ESTHER
- Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this? –
Introduction: Esther 1-2 Ahasuerus was a great Persian king, which lived in the Persian Capital of Shushan. And he ruled for twenty years over 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia. At this time a number of Jews were still in Babylon under Persian rule, even though they had been free to return to Jerusalem (Ezra 1:2).
- Ahasuerus held a great feast. On the seventh day of the feast he wanted his wife, queen Vashti to come, in order to show her beauty to the people and the officials. But queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command, therefore the king became furious.
The king asked his wise men what should be done with the queen. They said to him, that he should give her royal position to another who is better than she. The king did as they recommended and queen Vashti lost her position. BUT the king needed another to take her place. Therefore, he sent officers out in all the provinces to gather all the beautiful young virgins to Shushan, so that he could choose himself a queen to take the place of Vashti.
Est 2:16-17 Esther was a Jewish orphan – raised by her cousin, Mordecai, with no particular promises. But the account contained in this book unfolds the way God opens destiny to any person who will keep His priorities.
- Esther was taken to King Ahaseurus, into his royal palace, in the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the other virgins, se he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
- Esther is a picture of the Church, the bride of Jesus. God has put a crown of righteousness on us. We are His beloved. (Song of Songs 6:9). We, the church have a hope, that He soon will come and take us home into His palace (heaven), and we will live together with Him for eternity.
- But there are something that keeps Him back. The Promise Matt 24:14 – the Fulfillment of the Promise Rev 7:9 – How the promise shall be fulfilled Matt 28:18-20.
1. The Situation In the Land (World).
Esther 3:1-15 The king promoted Haman (a picture of Satan and an enemy to the Jews) and set him over all the princes. Everyone had to bow down before him. But Mordecai who feared the God of Israel didn’t bow down before Haman. But it was not enough for Haman to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai. Instead, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews (v. 5-6).
Haman went to the king to ask him to write a decree that the Jews be destroyed. He even offered him money to do it. The king agree, “And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions.
“A copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province, being published for all people, that they should be ready for this day” (Est 3:13-14).
- Think about the people. They knew that this certain day they would all die. They needed someone to save them. WHO could help them and save them from this terrible situation?
- The world is in the same situation today. Not in a physical way but a spiritual. The Bible tells us that: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23).
There exist something that in mission terms is called the 10/40 Window; it is the area of the world between latitudes 10° and 40° north of the equator covering North Africa, Middle East and Asia. This area contains most of the world's areas of greatest physical and spiritual need, most of the world's least-reached peoples and most of the governments that oppose Christianity.
Let me give you some numbers, but remember that behind every number there is a person that Jesus died for.
Afghanistan: 23 million, 97.89% Muslims and 0.02% Christian..
Azerbadjan: 8 million, 83.67% Muslims and 0.02%Christian.
China: 1.3 billion, 50% Atheist, maybe 10% Christians (130 million).
India: 1 billion, Hindu 79.83%, 12.5% Muslim and 1% Christian.
Iran: 68 million, 99.02% and 0.01% Christian.
Iraq: 23 million, 96.85% and 0.03% Christian.
North Korea: 47 million, Atheist 64.31% and 0.06% Christian.
Kyrgyzstan: 4.6 million, 78% Muslim and 0.48% Christian.
God loves every person the same. He doesn’t love Russians more than He loves Chinese or Americans more than He loves people from Saudi Arabia.
1 Tim 2:4 Who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
God wants to reach all people. He wants that everyone everywhere shall have the possibility to choose Him.
Think about these Muslims; from early age they have learned that they shall fear Allah. They are doing everything to please him, they are keeping the prayers (five times a day they are kneeling down towards Mecca and prays to a god that doesn’t hear them), they are fasting, giving money to the poor, making the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime.
BUT THEY CAN NEVER BE SURE OF OBTAINING GRACE FROM ALLAH.
And we know that Jesus is the ONLY WAY TO GOD!
- If Jesus should come back today, it should not be noticed in those countries. They would be separated from God in eternity, and they have even not had a chance to choose.
Is that fair? While people in some countries have the opportunity to hear the gospel many times, other people have not the chance to hear it even once.
Put your fingers around your wrist. Every time you feel the heart beat, several persons are going to hell without having the chance to choose Jesus.
Maybe you say: God is a good God, He will give them another chance. How can God judge a man to hell who lives far away in the mountains of Tibet who have tried to please their knowing of god during all his life?
Is man lost without Christ? Jn 14:6 “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
1Jn 5:11-12”And this is the testimony: that God has given us life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life.”
This means that all other ways are wrong. Jesus is the ONLY way by which man can be saved (Acts 4:12).
Are those people lost who haven’t heard – or will they have a second chance after life?
- What is it that separates us from God? Is it because we haven’t heard about Jesus? Rom 3:23 Sin separates man from God.
- What is the consequence of sin? Rom 6:23 Death is the wages of sin. Rev 19:11-15 Those who doesn’t have their names written in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire.
Dick Hillis, founder of Overseas Crusades, brings the issue to a verdict:
If those who have not heard will somehow be saved, would it not then be best if they did not hear? Did Christ misguide His followers when He sent Paul throughout all Asia Minor and Europe? Or when He sent William Carey to India, Hudson Taylor to China, and tens of thousands of missionaries around the world? If the unevangelized are not lost, is not the mission program of the church a ludicrous blunder? Are millions of dollar spent on a useless program? If the unreached are not lost, does not the Scripture become a bundle of contradictions, the Savior become a false teacher, the Christian message become “much talking about nothing?”
Then it is better to stay at home. Calling home all the missionaries. Because if it is so, that people will have a chance after death – then, if we are sending missionaries to them, who preach Christ it is like giving them a chance to choose hell instead.
Most of the adherents of the world’s great religions are sincere. Yet sincerity is not what saves us. Who can say that the Muslim isn’t sincere in his religion? Only faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ brings salvation.
2. Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
The people needed someone to help them out of that situation or else they had no chance to survive.
- Esther 4:1-14 Mordocai showed Esther what was going to happen with the people of Israel. Probably she didn’t know. He hoped that she would be filled with compassion for them, but also understand that she was the only hope for them, the only hope they had left.
-She tries to escape her responsibility. She was afraid for the king. But Mordecai tells her, “do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish, Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (v. 13-14).
YOU have come to the world for such a time as this. It is not fate that made you be born in this generation. God wanted you to be born now. You are here to make a difference. Russia is going to make a difference for the nations!
Jesus gave us the Promise in Matt 24:14 and in Revelation 7:9 it is fulfilled. People from every nation, tribe and tongue will stand before the Father and worship Him.
We are the ones God has called to fulfill the promise Matt 28:18-20. Did Jesus give this command only to the minister gifts (Eph 4:11)? No, it is to every believer.
You and I have the responsibility to preach the gospel to our generation.
Prov 24:11-12 Esther maybe didn’t know before Mordocai told her. But when she got to know, she was the one who had the responsibility to do something. We are responsible before God.
- This urgent task moved Paul Acts 21:24 “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
There was a man in Turkey. He had just received Jesus in his life and he heard that in some countries there are thousands of Christians. He said to the preacher who was talking to him, “I don’t think you understand me, if Jesus came back today, none of my parents, brothers or friends should follow, everyone would be left here. And you told me, that in your country, there are cities with more than 50 persons saved. What are they doing which is so important so they don’t come here to tell us about Jesus?”
What are you doing that is so important for you?
Dedication
Esther 4:15-17
Esther repented, and was ready to give her life, if it should be so.
Esther 5:1-3 She found favor in his sight. And she saved the people of Israel. Just because she thought it more important to see her people saved than to keep her own life.
We must understand that this, MISSION, is the most important thing we can do in life. God’s passion is people. People that Jesus died for.
There are hundreds of examples of missionaries that understood this. They saw the need to bring the gospel to those that never have heard the gospel.
For example: William Carey, received an addiction of mission, he was burning with a passion to honoring God with his life. He saw that there are millions of people going to hell, and they even don’t have a possibility to make a choice if they want to receive Jesus or not.
He was burning with a passion for them. He did everything to make the religious leaders understand the importance of going out as missionaries to the nations, but in the beginning they didn’t understand. His pastor said, “When it is time for the heathen to receive the gospel, God will do it by Himself, without your help or mine.”
But he didn’t quit. He went himself to India. He was living there among the people giving them the gospel, training missionaries and translating the Bible. Two of his wifes died, he met a lot of problem from the authorities in India, later he met a lot of problem from the mission organization he once was a part of starting, but because of his passion to God and to mission he didn’t quit.
The passion for mission is first and foremost a passion for Jesus. Flowing from our love for Him, we are passionate to see all peoples love and worship Him too.
Francis Xavier stood on an island (Macao) looking toward what seemed to him to be the rock-hard resistance of China’s millions. As this missionary looked toward China’s mainland he cried, “Rock, rock, when will you open to my Savior?” Xavier sent word back to Europe urging the dispassionate students of his day to be missions addicted. He pled with them saying, “Tell the students to give up their small ambitions and come eastward to preach the gospel of Christ!”
What are you giving YOUR life for? And why?
Is 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
What will you answer to God’s calling? Will you respond in the same way Isaiah did or will you say, “I didn’t know!”
William Carey changed India, Hudson Taylor changed China. Where they better than we? Did they have a greater God than we have? No! They knew what the most important in life was and they gave their life for that. You can be a world changer! And a History Maker if you will lay down your life to God and to His purposes!
