Introducing Esther (Part 3 of 3)

Great kings and great nations will come and go, but God won't. He has ultimate authority. So does this give us as Christians the right to challenge or despise earthly authority?

Alistair Begg answers that question today on Truth for Life. He's teaching from chapter one in the book of Esther. King Ahasuerus is presented to us as a big deal.

He is a big deal. Under any standards of kings and dominions and authorities and powers in the study of history, this particular king stands out as significant. And we're told, as we read the opening verses, of the extent of his influence—that he reigned, and he reigned from India to Ethiopia. India and Ethiopia represented the extreme boundaries of the then-known world.

That was, if you like, the limit of people's imaginations for exploration. And as you look at these opening verses—and I encourage you to do so—the picture builds of his greatness and of his significance. In verse 2, it was the days when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in Susa, the citadel. He's pictured there as giving a feast—actually giving two feasts, the first lasting for a hundred and eighty days—a feast that lasts for six months. That's some celebration.

That's some feast. Presumably, people did not stay there for the entire six months, but the celebration went on for that length of time, and people would have come and gone and perhaps returned. And it was a status symbol that he could actually identify himself with the longevity of this celebration and have so many people come.

He then follows it up with a feast that lasts for seven days, a kind of garden party, and that is for the ancillary workers, it would seem—perhaps those who had been responsible for making sure that the 180-day feast had been such a success. And we're told there that the army of Persia and of Media and the nobles and the governors of the provinces were before him. And that picture of coming before him is a picture of obeisance, it is a picture of his majesty and of his might, and of their essentially attending upon him. And he used it as an opportunity, verse 4, to show the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his greatness for many days. So his empire, at least in his own mind, was beyond a person's ability to fully comprehend.

It was so vast that it was thought that the sun would never have occasion to set upon it. And as this book opens up, and as it proceeds through the chapters, the very repetition of the king's name establishes the point for us—that this is an individual of significance, and this is his stuff, and this is his palace. Even when it says in verse 9 there—I tried to point it out by repetition—that Queen Vashti, that was his wife, also gave a feast for the women in the palace, in the palace that belonged to King Aswaris.

It wasn't her palace. It was his palace. He, in this story, is the big deal.

Can you imagine him there in all of his finery, all of his majesty, all of his beauty, all of his luxury, all of his authority? His name actually means ruling over heroes. It means he who rules over men. So we got the picture, right?

That's simply to restate what is written for you that you can scan for yourself. This man is a big deal. But as the story unfolds, and as we will go on to see, and we'll see it quickly, he's not quite as in control as he believes himself to be. He may be in control, as we're told here in verse 1, of 127 provinces, but he can't control his wife.

He might be able to control a vast area from India to the Sudan, but he cannot control his own temper. And what we're going to discover in reading through this book of Esther is that this man, who is such a big deal, is going to discover that he himself is subject to the King of Kings and to the Lord of Lords. I want simply to step outside of the book in order that we might have that clearly established in our thinking.

We can go a couple of places. If you want to follow me, you can come with me to Isaiah and to chapter 40, and in the very center of that chapter, or into the second half of it, Isaiah the prophet, having said, Well, who would you like to compare God to? You can't certainly make an idol of him that would be worth anything at all. And then he says, verse 21, Do you not know, do you not hear, has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in, who brings princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. Now, the Christian does not despise authority. The Christian recognizes that when it comes to the establishing of authority, the authority of God is behind the establishing of human authority. The human authority only has relevance and significance in light of the authority of God. That is why, eventually, when the authority of man seeks to oppose the authority of God, for the believer, they are forced to say, as with the apostles, you'd better judge whether it is right for us to obey God or to obey you. But it is completely wrong for a Christian believer to think that somehow or another the Bible is a revolutionary tract, undermining authority and undermining rulers and undermining statesmen and so on.

It clearly isn't. You would have to take big chunks out of the Bible to even come close to that. We do not despise authority. We recognize that God ordains the rise and position of leaders, but we also recognize that he orchestrates their demise.

That was something that this big-deal king, and every big-deal king, must reckon with. Let's go to the Psalms just for a moment, and to Psalm 2, classically, where we have the same emphasis. Psalm 2, Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against his anointed, saying, Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs, the LORD holds them in derision.

Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, As for me, I have set my king on Zion my holy hill. I will tell of the decree. The LORD said to me, You are my son. Today I have begotten you.

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, And the ends of the earth your possession. And in that second psalm, which is quoted with frequency in the rest of the Bible, you have the senselessness of man, and you have the sovereignty of God. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? It's such a stupid idea to think that man can take on God, that man can win the battle over a sovereign God. The arrogance of such a posture is a joke. Hence verse 4, He who sits in the heavens laughs, the LORD holds them in derision. You think you're a big deal, Ahasuerus?

You think you're in charge of everything? God does not laugh at the poverty and the chaos that ensues when people overstep their boundaries, but he laughs at the arrogance of man pretending to take the place of God. The ends of the earth are the possession of the living God. Now, one of the ways in which you can be sure that you're dealing with an Old Testament passage correctly is if you go and find it quoted in the New Testament.

And so that's what we'll do thirdly and finally. And that is in Acts chapter 4. Because in Acts chapter 4, you have the apostles, they have been preaching, and then they were involved in the healing of the beggar man who was lame.

He had been lame for forty years. The fact that they had intervened in that way guaranteed them a night in prison. They had come out of the prison. They had continued to proclaim the name of Jesus. The religious authorities were struck by the boldness of what they were saying and doing. And once they were released, verse 23 of Acts chapter 4, when they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

And what did they do? Well, verse 24 tells us, And when they heard it, they lifted their voice together to God, and said, Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. In other words, let's get perspective here for just a moment. Here we are, under subjugation, from the Roman authorities and also from the Jewish religious establishment. We have been sent out by the ascended king, Jesus himself. He's poured out the Holy Spirit upon us, and we're to go out into the ends of the earth. We have hardly got step two in Jerusalem, and we've ended up in the nick. We're in the jail.

We're getting a beating, we're getting a hammering, and we're in the jail. So we need to make sure that we set things in perspective here by reminding ourselves that you are the sovereign Lord. You're the creator of the ends of the earth, the sea, and everything in it. And through the mouth of our Father David your servant, you said by the Holy Spirit—remember what we said this morning?—that the Bible is the living Word of the living God. It is the living Book of the living Author. These individuals say, We know that when we read Psalm 2, the reason we have Psalm 2 is because you spoke that psalm. You used David as your mouthpiece in order to convey that information.

But David himself cannot encapsulate the vastness of that which he articulates. It demands a fulfillment beyond David—a fulfillment, of course, that is found in Jesus. And you will notice that they then quote the psalm, Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the LORD and against his anointed.

And then they said, And let's apply this. For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. How amazing is that?

How fantastic is that? Remember we said this morning that everything is in accordance with the unified plan and purpose of God, which finds its fulfillment… The pivotal event of human history is there in the crucifixion in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they're saying, Here, in the mystery of your providence, Herod and Pilate slot into the position articulated in Psalm 2. The Gentiles, who plot against you, were engaged in the project as well. Here these Roman authorities are engaged in all of this activity, and none of this has taken you by surprise, because they were actually doing whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

Now, we must draw this to a close, but it is a very helpful little section for coming to terms with what we were alluding to this morning—that is, standing back far enough to get the big picture. You see, there is no doubt that Ahazuerus was a big deal. But what we discover is that Jesus is the real deal, if we can speak colloquially. Because go back for yourself—and you can do this for homework, and you can do it as well as I can, perhaps a little better—and take all the notions that are described of this big-deal king and then say, Okay, well, here we have this earthly king, and here we have Jesus. So, for example, he had dominion over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces. That was his dominion between India and Ethiopia. That's King Ahazuerus. Ask of me, says the Father, and I will give the nations of the world as your inheritance. The ends of the earth are your dominion. You picture him there in all of his finery, and he is seated upon a throne, and all the nobles of the surrounding area are coming to him, and they're paying their respects to him.

And you say, My, my, that is quite a picture. The thrones, the earthly thrones of kings and rulers, are significant. But they fade into obscurity when you turn to Revelation chapter 21, and it says, And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.

And he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He had authority. His authority extended to the borders of his influence.

The authority of King Jesus is an authority that is his to the ends of the earth and forever and forever. He put together a banquet that lasted for a hundred and eighty days. You want to talk banquets? Revelation chapter 19, the marriage supper of the Lamb. Read it for yourself later on—a banquet that will go on, essentially, forever. And in order that we might get a little sense of what is planned for us, he has left to us these little feasts, so that along the journey, Sunday by Sunday and month by month and week by week, we may pause and realize that this is a king who died in our place, that this is a priest who suffered for our sins, that this is a prophet who spoke into our ignorance. And the big deals of the world, whether they're in the fifth century B.C. or the twenty-first century A.D., will eventually bow before the authority of Jesus.

P.S. When Jesus, post-resurrection, gave his instruction to his disciples, his instructions focused on the nations and the ends of the earth, didn't they? Now he says, I want you to wait in Jerusalem until the promise of my Father. I know you're concerned about empires and nations and Israel and all these other things. I don't want you to be concerned about that just now.

That's not for you to know. You don't need to worry about the times and seasons that my Father has appointed. He says, what you need to be focused on is this—that you might be filled with the Holy Spirit that is being sent to you, and then, in the power of the Holy Spirit, that you might go out to the very ends of the earth and that you might tell men and women this amazing good news. And, loved ones, in every generation, when a church, when the church, comes to terms with that, then there will be an explosion of missionary endeavor.

That is actually a salutary thought. Because for an explosion of missionary endeavor emanating from Britain and the continental United States, we now have to look back in time. The missionary convention in Edinburgh of 1910 was filled with thousands and thousands of people absolutely convinced that it was right for them, proper for them, necessary for them to be in every nation of the world with one message—namely, that salvation belongs to the Lord.

A hundred years later, the gathering of the missionary endeavor in Edinburgh was attended by far fewer, and far less, who remained convinced what had happened. They, we, I, have lost sight of the kingly rule and reign of Jesus. We are succumbing to a political correctness which, overlaiden with fears of colonialism or American triumphalism, makes us increasingly diffident, if not manifestly fearful, of actually telling anybody—whether it's in our Jerusalem or our Judea or our Sumeria or the ends of the earth—that Jesus Christ is the only Savior. What is it that silences us? The poverty of our own understanding of truth and the poverty of our own spiritual experience. The fact that the kings and the nations and the presidents and the rulers of the world have far too much to say for themselves and about themselves. And the Christian who recognizes that God ordains leadership and authority must recognize that he and she does not serve, ultimately, this big deal but serves he who is the real deal.

And Ahasuerus sat on his throne two and a half thousand years on. Where is he? Where is all that finery? Where is all that majesty?

Where is all that authority? It's buried. It's crumbled. His voice is silenced. Where is Jesus? Same place he was. Ascended King.

Reigning Lord. He says, Come and meet me. Come and meet me. Remember me. And then just go and tell the world all about me. Some of you are here, and you're at a stage in your life where you could make a major shift. Your finances are secure.

Your children are grown. What do you want to do with the rest of your life? Golf? Sail? Sit? Knit? Carve? That would be fine. How about you go somewhere?

Why would you do that? Because the King says we must. All of us, even the big deals of this world, will eventually bow before Jesus. You're listening to Truth for Life, that is, Alistair Begg, challenging us to tell the world about Christ. Each one of us is called to share this message of salvation with everyone. That's what your partnership makes possible when you give to Truth for Life.

It's by way of your generous giving that people from every walk of life throughout the world can hear this good news through Alistair's teaching without cost being a barrier. And when you give a donation today, we want to say thank you by offering you a book titled 12 Things God Can't Do. This is a book that examines the things God is unable to do because of his nature. For example, we may find ourselves stunned by all that's happening in the world around us, but God isn't surprised. He can't be surprised. He knows the beginning from the end. So being surprised is impossible for him. There are 11 other things God can't do that are explored in this book.

All of them will provide you with an increased sense of comfort and security. Request your copy of the book 12 Things God Can't Do today when you give a donation to support the ministry of Truth for Life at truthforlife.org slash donate or you can call us at 888-588-7884. And if you'd prefer to mail your donation along with your request for the book, write to Truth for Life P.O. Box 398000 Cleveland, Ohio 44139. I'm Bob Lapine. We hope you enjoy your weekend and are able to worship with your local church family this weekend. On Monday, we're going to find out how one unguarded impulsive moment can cause a lifetime of irreparable damage. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.