FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS (Esther 4:1-17)
INTRODUCTION:
As we have been going through Esther, we have been using 1st Corinthians 10:11 as our guiding principle to this book. Paul wrote in this verse, “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11, NASB95)[1] We are learning to read the Old Testament historic events using this principle from the New Testament and we learn that these events are far more than just history, but they took place in such a way that they are an example for us, and they were written for our instruction. So far, we have identified within this historic event that several of the true historic characters are examples for us. For example, King Ahasuerus represents the soul of man, which operates by the faculties of mind, emotion and will. Queen Esther represents the spirit of man, the part of man which makes communion and fellowship with God possible for the soul of man. Mordecai, Esther’s cousin who adopted her and raised her as his own daughter when her parents died represents the Holy Spirit. Haman the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews represents for us the flesh, our sin nature.
Last week we ended with Ahasuerus and Haman sitting down to drink while the city of Susa was reeling and in confusion having just received the edict for the annihilation of the Jews sealed and delivered in the name and authority of King Ahasuerus, thus it was a law of the Medes and the Persians which cannot be altered. Let’s pray and then read our passage for this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Esther 4:1-17, our passage for today. Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Esther 4:1-17,
“When Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly. He went as far as the king’s gate, for no one was to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth. In each and every province where the command and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes. Then Esther’s maidens and her eunuchs came and told her, and the queen writhed in great anguish. And she sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept them. Then Esther summoned Hathach from the king’s eunuchs, whom the king had appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was. So Hathach went out to Mordecai to the city square in front of the king’s gate. Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict which had been issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show Esther and inform her, and to order her to go in to the king to implore his favor and to plead with him for her people. Hathach came back and related Mordecai’s words to Esther. Then Esther spoke to Hathach and ordered him to reply to Mordecai: ‘All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned, he has but one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days.’ They related Esther’s words to Mordecai. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, ‘Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?’ Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, ‘Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.’ So Mordecai went away and did just as Esther had commanded him.” (Esther 4:1–17, NASB95)[2]
MORDECAI MOURNS (Esther 4:1-3)
All of Susa has heard the king’s edict and as I said last Sunday the whole capital city was thrown into confusion. Mordecai’s reaction to this edict is intense and significant. He tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and covered himself in ashes and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly. What a picture of grief. Mordecai is not the only one grieving, as this pronouncement reached around the empire the Jews are thrown into panic and they express their sorrow and grief by weeping, lamenting, wearing sackcloth and ashes. But the focus is on the grief of Mordecai because he fully understands what this edict means. He knows that not only will this destroy the people of God throughout the whole kingdom, the complete annihilation of the Jewish people, but this edict will also touch the very throne of the empire. The queen, unknown to anyone is a Jewess, she also is in danger, for this decree had become the law of the Medes and the Persians and it could not be changed. This alone was enough for Mordecai to react with bitter and painful grief.
Remember that Mordecai represents the Holy Spirit. If we go to the New Testament, to Ephesians 4:30 Paul writes, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30, NASB95)[3] What is it that grieves the Holy Spirit? Verse 31 tells us, Paul writes, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” (Ephesians 4:31, NASB95)[4] These are the things that grieve the Spirit of God, they are the works of the flesh, they are the exact opposite of the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, and self-control. It is remarkable to think that what grieves the Holy Spirit is not the sinner’s enmity with God so much as the unthinking foolishness of the saint. What I mean by that is the saint who believes he is doing what is right but in truth he is following after the flesh, and he falls into circumstance or reaction which proves very wrong, and this destroys the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. It can be what we say, how we react, or how we act, and we may even begin in complete sincerity, with the best intentions but because we are following the flesh we destroy our peace, our joy, we lose our patience, we snap in unkindness, and we lose our self-control. When all this occurs, we don’t know what is wrong, we end up confused and baffled. It is at these times that the Spirit of God is deeply grieved within us. Thank God for the grieving of the Spirit. It is the grieving Holy Spirit within us that is the guarantee of God that he will never leave us in our ignorant foolishness. It reminds us that God is unwilling to let us go stumbling along into the full results of our own wrong choices. Mordecai made his way to the gate of the citadel and there he stopped. No one in sackcloth was allowed to go through the gate or into the citadel. Here outside the gate, he continued in his grief wailing loudly and bitterly for his people.
MORDECAI INFORMS (Esther 4:4-8)
Up to this point, neither the king nor the queen knows of Mordecai’s grieved heart. Mordecai knows that the only way in which he will be able to approach the king is through the queen and possibly this is why he went up to the gates so that she would hear, and he would be able to inform her of the whole situation. It is here that we learn what takes place in the human spirit when the grieving of the Holy Spirit is made known. It is Esther’s maids and eunuchs, those who attend to here needs that bring her the news of Mordecai’s grief. At once we read of the first uneasy realization that something is wrong. This realization does not begin in the soul at the level of the conscious life, but deep in the subconscious, in the depths of the spirit. Have you ever sensed that you are living with the grieved Spirit? The realization causes our spirit to grieve within us, and we see this as Esther writhed in great anguish knowing the Mordecai was grieved. Esther decides something must be done and she sends garments out to Mordecai that he might take off the sackcloth and put on some clothes that would allow him into the gate. Often times when we realize that we have grieved the Holy Spirit, we try to cover up our disquiet by forcing an attitude of cheerfulness and well-being. But the Holy Spirit is not so easily put off, just as Mordecai refused the clothes that Esther sent for him to put on. You cannot cover up the distress because there is something wrong.
When the messengers come back with the clothes that Esther sent out to Mordecai, she knows that she must know what has so grieved his heart. Esther called for Hathach, a eunuch who the king had appointed to attend Esther. Esther must have trusted this servant since we are even given his name. She must have known that she could trust him to find out the truth and bring it back to her. Maybe she had used this man before to communicate with Mordecai. She sends him to Mordecai to find out what was so grievous and why.
When we seek to find out what it is that is causing distress in our own lives, why the Spirit within us is grieved, we never need to worry that we will be left in the dark. The Spirit of God is always willing to reveal to us exactly what is wrong if we seek as diligently and specifically as Esther does here. The voice of the Spirit is always specific and to the point. If we refuse to allow the matter to come into our conscious thinking and keep pushing it down, He will continually keep bringing the matter up. We may not want to deal with it, we may keep shoving it away, but we cannot get away from the fact that something is wrong. If we diligently seek Him and go to Him directly and honestly, he will clearly and immediately reveal to us what we are seeking.
Listen to the exchange between Hathach and Mordecai in verses 6-9, “So Hathach went out to Mordecai to the city square in front of the king’s gate. Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict which had been issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show Esther and inform her, and to order her to go in to the king to implore his favor and to plead with him for her people. Hathach came back and related Mordecai’s words to Esther.” (Esther 4:6–9, NASB95)[5] Notice how clear and precise this is. Mordecai knew the whole story, even the exact sum of silver that Haman, in private, had told the king he would put into the king’s treasury for the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai had a copy of the edict for Hathach to take to Esther so that she could read it herself. In this way Mordecai revealed the whole plan of Haman to her in specific and exact detail. Mordecai clearly explained the truth to Esther of why he was grieved and why he had not accepted the clothes that she had sent.
When you realize that something has come between you and the Lord, and you have grieved the Holy Spirit, where do you go to find out what it is that has brought this about? You go to the Word of truth and often you find the answer there, as you are seeking the Scriptures, the Spirit of God illuminates a verse making it speak out to you, and suddenly you know the thing that is wrong. Maybe you go to God in prayer and ask God to make the matter clear and He brings to your mind what it is that is wrong. Or God could also use someone to speak a word of encouragement or exhortation to you and in his words to you the wrong is revealed to you. When we seek for the truth as Esther did, the Spirit of God in some way makes the whole matter clear to us.
Mordecai instructs Esther to go to the king and to plead for her people. The time for hiding your nationality is over, as a Jewess in a place where you can influence the king, you must go to the king and seek his favor and plead for the lives of your people. If Hathach did not know Esther’s ethnicity before, which is possible as Mordecai had commanded her to not reveal this to anyone, he knows now because of what Mordecai has just told him to relate to Esther.
MORDECAI RESPONDS (Esther 4:9-14)
When Hathach returns to Esther with the message given to him by Mordecai it is clear from Esther’s response that she fully understands the matter as told to her by Hathach and through the copy of the written edict. She was made aware of the evil Haman and the evil influence he has on King Ahasuerus. Even clearly understanding all of this Esther is reluctant. She sends a message through Hathach reminding Mordecai that everyone in the empire knows that if you go into the king’s presence, into the inner court, without being summoned by the king, there is but one law that you be put to death, unless and this is the only exception, the king extends his gold scepter to you, then and only then will you live. Then Esther informs Mordecai that she has not been summoned by the king in the last 30 days. Esther has weighed the risk, and to go into the inner court to the king would be at the risk of her own life.
Mordecai responds to Esther immediately. Listen to the words of his response in verses 13-14, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13b–14, NASB95)[6] Mordecai in his response is very clear and very insistent. He will not let Esther delay or try to seek another way. First, he reminds her that she is already in danger of losing her life. The edict was that all Jews be destroyed, the fact that she was the queen would not matter, even if she did not speak up, the truth would be found out. Second, Mordecai informs her that if she keeps silent at such a time as this, then relief and deliverance for the Jews will come from someplace else. Mordecai is saying that God has an infinite number of ways to accomplish His will. We may fail in what God has given us to do, but that does not stop Him from fulfilling His will. God is never hindered by man’s failure. But when we do not do what God has purposed for us to do, we miss out on the beauty of God’s perfection for us, we may suffer loss, as the apostle Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 3:15.
Esther was reluctant to face the possibility of death, but there was no other way out. Often, we seek to delay action on the painful matter of condemning the “natural, sinful” urges of our old flesh that rise within us and tempt and entice us. But there is no other way if we are to overcome them. Jesus said in John 12:24, ““Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24, NASB95)[7] If we seek to control the flesh by will power and discipline, we will find that it is too strong for us. We must do as Paul explains in Galatians 2:20 where he writes, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NASB95)[8] We must condemn and crucify the flesh, then we can no longer defend it or excuse it. The life which we now live must be lived by faith in the Son of God, no longer I living, but Christ living in me. We must make a commitment to allow Christ to be the Lord of our life.
Mordecai highlights the importance of this commitment by saying, “And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14b, NASB95)[9] What is the real purpose of salvation? Is it only that God might take you to heaven someday? That you will reign with Him sometime in the future? That is the end product, but you are here now for such a time as this. The Holy Spirit has entered your life in order that you might live in fruitfulness and victory right now, right where you live and work, that in the day-to-day experiences of your life you might display the fullness of the character and glory of God. Your salvation is only the beginning. But it will never have any meaning unless you learn to walk in victory over bitterness, resentment, malice, anger, lust, anxiety, and every other manifestation of the flesh, and walk in the Spirit. If we refuse to face up to this fact, if we try to make peace with the flesh so as to avoid accepting the full meaning of the death of Christ for us, we have no choice but to go on under the dominion and reign of sin in our lives. If we have truly put our faith in Christ, then heaven will still be yours because of the work of Jesus Christ on your behalf, but when that day comes you will look back on a wasted and ruined life. If this happens it will be your own fault, for the Holy Spirit has entered our lives “for such a time as this.”
MORDECAI FASTS (Esther 4:15-17)
Mordecai’s response to Esther’s reluctance helps her to make a decision, whether she goes to the king without being summoned or remains silent, her life is in danger. With great courage and grace, Esther bows to the will of Mordecai. In the symbolism of the fast she indicates her complete surrender to enter into death—a death three days and three nights long. Jesus said in Matthew 12:40, “…for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40, NASB95)[10] Esther looking forward to the death of her Savior the Lord Jesus Christ and what His death will effect for her, is willing herself to die. Her words are, “If I perish, I perish.” Just as we must be willing to accept in practical experience the judgment of the cross upon our natural old self, so Esther was willing to enter into death for her people.
If we looked at Esther through the book of Romans at this point you would find yourself right at Romans 6:6, “…knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;” (Romans 6:6, NASB95)[11] In this wonderful, typical way, the book of Esther is teaching us that the death of Jesus Christ actually involved the death of our old self with him. Because of this we no longer operate on the basis of the flesh. The old self, the flesh, the old nature must be declared to be absolutely worthless. When we believe that, then we can begin to walk in the liberty and freedom that God has intended for us.
Mordecai gathers the Jews in Susa, Esther gathers her maidens and they all fast, and with fasting comes prayer. They were all praying that the king would accept Esther and that her petition for her people would be granted and that Haman’s evil character would be exposed. At the end of three days of fasting, night and day, Esther in grace and loveliness will take up her courage and go before the king accepting whatever the Lord has for her. The king must now make the fateful decision.
CONCLUSION:
“If I perish, I perish.” These words of Esther so beautifully picture the identification of the believer with the death of Jesus Christ. This is not yet the realm of the soul, the emotional life, the feelings which can and do change. This identification with the death of Christ concerns the realm of the spirit, the deepest part of man’s nature. What this declares is that down at the very deepest level of your life a fact has taken place from which all deliverance will stem. Christ’s death for you and your death with Him are unchangeable facts, and nothing you do or don’t do can affect them.
This is a truth that we greatly need, for until we begin to believe what God says is true about what happened to us when Jesus Christ died, we will never have the confidence to accept the deliverance that is based on this truth. If you once died with Him, you are never the same—you never will be the same again. Even though at times you will fall into sinful acts which are the same as those you committed before you were a Christian, still you are not the same—you cannot be. Paul wrote in Colossians 1:13-14, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13–14, NASB95)[12] And the evil one cannot lay his hands on us any longer. You are no longer in bondage to him; you are a believer and your deliverance rests on the unchangeable fact of Christ’s death and your death with Him.
Because of this unchangeable fact we do not need to go on being deluded and deceived, because God has arranged a way out for the one who is in Christ. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13, NASB95)[13] Notice it says, “God is faithful,” whether you are or not is beside the point. God’s Word never changes. The death of Jesus Christ is an unchangeable fact in your experience if you have received Him in faith. Because of this God is faithful and you will not be tempted beyond your strength, and God will provide a way of escape. He will bring you through it if you rest upon the unchangeable fact of what he has already done in your life.
From this point, the identification of the believer with the death of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is ready to move into the realm of the conscious life, the soul. It is necessary to bring to our conscious attention what is going on deep in our spirit before we can be delivered. And the power with which God works in our life will always be the power of a resurrected life.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.