For Such A Time As This

For Such a Times as This

Theme:

Text: Esther 4:10

Esther 4:13 Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not to yourself that you shall escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. 14 For if you altogether hold your peace at this time, then there shall be an enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Message Esther 4:13 Mordecai sent her this message: "Don't think that just because you live in the king's house you're the one Jew who will get out of this alive. 14 If you persist in staying silent at a time like this, help and deliverance will arrive for the Jews from someplace else; but you and your family will be wiped out. Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this."

Introduction

Wednesday night we began a Bible study called “Understanding the Bible in 24 hours” I told you tphat in this book we would see drama, romance, deceit, plots and subplots. Mans greatest victories and mans greatest defeats. As we come to this book we find it all.

It could be called the Impossible Dream. Some people even compare it to the story of Cinderella. A poor orphan becomes wife to the king. Many young girls dream of marrying the handsome prince but the odds are astronomical that it will happen. They become even greater for a poor young lady who was of a foreign decent.

Esther had many things going against her. She was poor, she was foreign. Her country had been captured and now was in servant hood to the Persian empire. The odds were great that she would never become anything. Much less a queen.

It would take divine intervention. Yet it would seem that God is silent if you just read the surface of this story. Did you know that the name of God is not mentioned in all of this book? Of all the 10 chapters, 167 verse, 5,637 words in the Book of Esther the author thought it not important to mention the name Jehovah the God of the Jews.

You may not be able to see the name of God but oh can you see the finger of God. You can see God’s guiding hand of a nation chosen by him.

Let me quickly tell you the story. It all begins with King Ahasuewrus or Xerxes decides to throw a large banquet to celebrate his kingship and the riches of his glory. This lasted six months. Then another feast was thrown that lasted a week. During this feast King Xerxes wanted to show off his beautiful wife, Vashti. Yet she refused to come and was banished from the kingdom.

Principle #1: Be Careful For Rash Decisions “They never turn out good”

In turn King Xerxes got lonely and began the quest for a new wife. A search was sent throughout all the kingdom for virgins. It was not long that Esther caught the eye of the king and she became the queen.

During this there is also a subplot. Not only did Xerxes chose a new queen but a man by the name of Haman the Agagite came under his good graces.

You may remember the name Agagite back in 1Sa_15:9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. 20 And Saul said to Samuel, "But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

Soon King Xerxes would make him second in command. Yet Haman was a wicked and prideful man.

Mordecai, the uncle of Esther, had become an employ of the empire. Yet he would not bow to Haman and this made Haman mad. Not just furious with Mordecai but also furious with the whole race of people called the Jews. Haman set out to destroy the Jews. He even coaxed the king into signing a decree for a date to kill the Jews.

When Mordecai heard to this he went into morning. He tore his robe and began to morn. Esther caught word of this and began to inquire. Well Mordecai said it was because of the decree sent forth by the king. This is where we pick up in these verses. Word has been sent to Esther about Mordecai and the his morning. She is told of the decree yet shares her fears with Mordecai about going before the king. It was not customary that any one would go before the king without being asked by him. If they went before him and he did not hold out the golden scepter to them they would die.