Who Knows Whether You Have Come To The Kingdom For Such A Time As This?

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.