The Glory In The King's Gate

THE GLORY OF THE KING’S GATE

TEXT: Esther 6:12

Esther 6:12 KJV And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered.

I. INTRODUCTION -- THE COMMON LIFE

-I find myself somewhat indebted to Linda Little who taught me 11th grade English. One of her assignments was met with much complaint, weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. But those four assignments put me into the acquaintance of Robert Frost.

-She had us to memorize four of his poems, “Fire and Ice,” “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening,” “Mending Wall,” and perhaps his most famous “The Road Not Taken.”

-Robert Frosts’ poems pour out of the common life that he lived. He really saw rural New England for what it had to offer to his mind and ability to creatively write poetry. It was the New Hampshire farms and the Vermont apple orchards that brought so much power and light to what he write.

-I realize that some might think the faint fellow has lost his bearings when I tell you to read some of Frost’s poems and really see what he wrote. “Two Look at Two” is gripping in it’s depiction of a couple who wandering and even wavering in a walk in the woods. “Birches” give powerful insight into seeing beyond the forest and really looking at the trees and as you see the trees, life eases its way out of the poem.

-Robert Frost was a man who really had the ability to not just live his life but to see life in the common. Because of the common, he sets the soul on fire with the power and passion that can come from just doing what you are supposed to do.

-If I could take this message and preach into you the incredible power that comes from the common avenues of life that is what I desperately want to do. One of the great dangers of the common life is that the devil would do much to get you to give up and give in to the tedium and boredom of daily life and make a decision that would have far-reaching and negative effects on your life.

-I have discovered that we do not gain necessarily gain great things at conferences or campmeetings. We do not necessarily glean greatness from seminars and holy huddles with our comrades. We make our greatest steps of progress when we allow the common to be the fuel to help us do what we are supposed to do.

-There is an inherent but often untapped power that comes in the king’s gate. It provides a foundation like none other for us. Don’t curse the common! It is in the king’s gate that great glory can be discovered.

II. THE STORY BEHIND THE TEXT

A. Royal Insomnia

-It was a night that the king could not sleep. For whatever reason, insomnia had found its way into the royal palace and had disturbed the sleep of royalty.

-A number of things could have troubled his sleep.

The cares of the kingdom.

The ambition to take more land and captives.

His troubled conscience.

It could have been his own ridiculous moods.

-One historian confirms that when Ahaseurus returned from his Greek expedition that he had gotten so made with the River Hellespont for breaking the floating bridge of his boats that he ordered one of his servants to lash the river with 300 lashes. Obviously there was a lot going on in his poor, sleepless mind on that particular night.

-I am certain that Ahasuerus had tried everything he knew to try and get to sleep on that night.

He had moved from the soft bed to his soft couch.

He counted the lines on the drapes that hung from ceiling to floor.

He counted the designs on the Persian rugs that were scattered about in his room.

He had rearranged the pillows and swapped from feather to cotton and back again.

He had tried to listen to the soft music of the Persians.

He had paced a bit.

He had read a bit.

He had snacked a bit.

He probably had tried every trick in the book.

-Nothing seemed to work to get the king to sleep. Because we have the ability to read the Bible, we know that a far greater plan was at work keeping this king from his sleep. God’s hand was involved in it all because He wanted Mordecai to be brought into the council of the king.

-So finally in great frustration that nothing could help the king sleep, he calls for someone to bring the records of the chronicles to be read aloud to him. What Ahasuerus did not count on was instead of the tales being tedious and boring and pushing him into a state of drowse, he was literally cast into and suddenly caught up in the records of a heroic tale that he had forgotten.