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Esther 1-2
1:1 Now in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces, 2 in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in Susa, the citadel, 3 in the third year of his reign he gave a feast for all his officials and servants. The army of Persia and Media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were before him, 4 while he showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his greatness for many days, 180 days. 5 And when these days were completed, the king gave for all the people present in Susa the citadel, both great and small, a feast lasting for seven days in the court of the garden of the king’s palace. 6 There were white cotton curtains and violet hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rods1 and marble pillars, and also couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and precious stones. 7 Drinks were served in golden vessels, vessels of different kinds, and the royal wine was lavished according to the bounty of the king. 8 And drinking was according to this edict: “There is no compulsion.” For the king had given orders to all the staff of his palace to do as each man desired. 9 Queen Vashti also gave a feast for the women in the palace that belonged to King Ahasuerus.
10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha and Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, 11 to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown,2 in order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at. 12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. At this the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him.
13 Then the king said to the wise men who knew the times (for this was the king’s procedure toward all who were versed in law and judgment, 14 the men next to him being Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king’s face, and sat first in the kingdom): 15 “According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti, because she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?” 16 Then Memucan said in the presence of the king and the officials, “Not only against the king has Queen Vashti done wrong, but also against all the officials and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. 17 For the queen’s behavior will be made known to all women, causing them to look at their husbands with contempt,3 since they will say, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come.’ 18 This very day the noble women of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s behavior will say the same to all the king’s officials, and there will be contempt and wrath in plenty. 19 If it please the king, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it may not be repealed, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus. And let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. 20 So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, for it is vast, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike.” 21 This advice pleased the king and the princes, and the king did as Memucan proposed. 22 He sent letters to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, that every man be master in his own household and speak according to the language of his people.
2:1 After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. 2 Then the king’s young men who attended him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. 3 And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa the citadel, under custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women. Let their cosmetics be given them. 4 And let the young woman who pleases the king4 be queen instead of Vashti.” This pleased the king, and he did so.
5 Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, 6 who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away. 7 He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. 8 So when the king’s order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in Susa the citadel in custody of Hegai, Esther also was taken into the king’s palace and put in custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women. 9 And the young woman pleased him and won his favor. And he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her portion of food, and with seven chosen young women from the king’s palace, and advanced her and her young women to the best place in the harem. 10 Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. 11 And every day Mordecai walked in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her.
12 Now when the turn came for each young woman to go in to King Ahasuerus, after being twelve months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and ointments for women—13 when the young woman went in to the king in this way, she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. 14 In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second harem in custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines. She would not go in to the king again, unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name.
15 When the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai the king’s eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. Now Esther was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her. 16 And when Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign, 17 the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown5 on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 Then the king gave a great feast for all his officials and servants; it was Esther’s feast. He also granted a remission of taxes to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity.
19 Now when the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. 20 Esther had not made known her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him. 21 In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 22 And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai. 23 When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows.6:11)</note>">6 And it was recorded in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.
[1] 1:6
[2] 1:11
[3] 1:17
[4] 2:4
[5] 2:17
[6] 2:23
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
This morning, we begin a 4 week study on the book of Esther, and so I invite you to turn to your table of contents, which you are probably going to go to first. Esther is somewhat of a obscure book. As you are, if you actually are looking at your table of contents, Esther's placement in that is important. Perhaps you don't know that, the Bible is laid out in a very strategic way and actually have your first 17 books listed there in the Old Testament are your historical books. Esther is number 17.
Jeffrey Heine:It is the last of the historical books. It's important to know this when looking at the life of Esther and the book of Esther, it is describing the last events in Israel's history before Jesus comes. After that, you have the 5, poetical books in Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and then you have the prophets. And that's how the old testament is laid out for you. But Esther is what brings in, or it's the bookend to the history of Israel.
Jeffrey Heine:Now we don't have time to read through all of chapter 1 and chapter 2 this morning, so we're gonna begin in chapter 2, and I'll kinda fill you in what happens in chapter 1 as we go through the sermon. Esther chapter 2, beginning in verse 1. After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. Then the king's young men who attended him said, let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king, and let the king appoint officers in all of the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa, the citadel, under the custody of Haggai, the king's eunuch, who is in charge of the women. Let their cosmetics be given them, and let the young women who woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.
Jeffrey Heine:This pleased the king, and he did so. Now there was a Jew in Susa, the citadel, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shammai, son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives, carried away with Jeconia, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away. He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at. And when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.
Jeffrey Heine:So when the king's order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in Susa, the citadel, in custody of Haggai, Esther also was taken into the king's palace and put in custody of Haggai, who had charge over the women. And the young woman pleased him and won his favor. And He quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her portion of food, and with 7 chosen young women from the king's palace, and advanced her and her young women to the best place in the harem. Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. And every day, Mordecai walked in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her.
Jeffrey Heine:Go to verse 15. When the turn came for Esther, the daughter of Abahel, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter, to go into the king, she asked for nothing except with Haggai, the king's eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. Now, Esther was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her. And, when Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus and to his royal palace in the 10th month, which is the month of Tebeth, and the 7th year of his reign, the king loved Esther more than all the women. And, she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that He set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
Jeffrey Heine:This is the word of the Lord. If you would, pray with me. Our Father, we ask that you would honor the very reading of your word, and that through your spirit, you be you would begin to penetrate these truths deep into our hearts. We ask for more than just clarity, we ask for conviction that our hearts will be transformed. And so in this moment, I ask that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore.
Jeffrey Heine:But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Now I'm not sure if you've ever noticed this before as you've been reading through your Bible, reading through the Old Testament, But in the Old Testament, as God's relationship with His people progresses, His presence with His people actually begins to slowly disappear. This is why Esther's placement, in the Old Testament is so important for us to understand.
Jeffrey Heine:You see, in the beginning, back in Genesis, you have God, he's full of action. He's speaking and there is creation. You have God very involved with people. He he walks with Adam in the garden in the cool of the evening. But then, things begin to change over the course of time.
Jeffrey Heine:Yes, even after Adam's fall and sin came in, God was still very close with his people, and he was particularly close with Abraham, and later with Moses, and he would still do huge acts of miracles, like parting Red Seas, 10 plagues, feeding the people with manna. But by time you do get to the Exodus, you do see some distance. The people don't wanna talk to God directly. They want Moses to be the mediator between them because they actually feared God. So from that point on, God would only speak through His prophets.
Jeffrey Heine:He wouldn't speak directly to the people. And then His presence begins to withdraw some too, in which there is no more manna, there's no more pillar of cloud by day or pillar of fire by night, the miracles become sporadic. By the time you get to 1 and 2nd Samuel, there's actually very few miracles at all. God is speaking very little to his people. When you get to Elijah and Elisha, you're gonna see God performing the last public miracles.
Jeffrey Heine:It's to Elijah that you actually last read these words, the Lord said. The Lord said. And if you remember the story of that, Elijah, he's up on the mountain and says that God did not speak to him through the earthquake, did not speak to him through the fire, did not speak to him through the wind, but God spoke to him through this still, small voice. And that is the only way that God will communicate from that point on is this real, still, small voice, perhaps in dreams or perhaps in visions. By the time we get to Esther, dreams, visions, all of that has gone away, and all we get is silence.
Jeffrey Heine:God seems to, in this last historical book, have faded completely away. This is actually perhaps what Esther is best known for, God's absence. It also makes it one of the most controversial books in our Bible. I'm not sure if you noticed this when we were reading, but God was never mentioned. There's actually no reference to prayer.
Jeffrey Heine:There's no reference to worship, and this is not unique in the first couple of chapters. Nowhere in the entire book are these things mentioned. God is never mentioned. And so he seems to be completely absent from whatever is going on in this story, which is the opposite of how he's worked in the the past, now the distant past with Israel. When Israel was in trouble in the past, God came through.
Jeffrey Heine:10 plagues on Egypt, miraculous deliverance, but not here. He seems to be working behind the scenes, if He's working at all. And what this means for us, and one of the reasons I love this book, is that Esther had to look for God the same way that most of us have to look for God. Not in these huge miracles, these huge displays of power, but we have to look at him working behind the scenes. He's hidden.
Jeffrey Heine:In the past, God was center stage, but now he's behind the curtain, but he's absolutely working. And I believe this is Esther's biggest contribution to the Bible. Make no mistake, God is equal. He is just as work here as He was when He delivered the Israelites from Egypt, but it's just not as clear what what the way we get to see God work here is through all of these coincidences. Esther is full of coincidence, after coincidence, after coincidence, that ultimately becomes so absurd that you have to realize that somebody is orchestrating this.
Jeffrey Heine:This unnamed person is somehow orchestrating all of this, and that person is the Lord. So let's dig into this story. It begins, during the reign of King Ahasuerus. He's also known as King Xerxes. He was the emperor of the Persian empire, which was the most powerful empire at this time, which also means that King Xerxes, King Ahasuerus, he was the most powerful and wealthy man in the world.
Jeffrey Heine:In chapter 1, he decides to throw a party. A party's kind of an understatement here. This is this is a party that goes on for 180 days. It's a 6 month long party that's meant to show off. That's all it's meant to do is I wanna show off all my power, all my wealth.
Jeffrey Heine:And so, he parades before his government officials all of his possessions, the wealth that he has. And during this parade, people are getting plastered. Alright? You read chapter 1, it just talks about all of this excessive drinking. This is a frat party gone wild for 6 months.
Jeffrey Heine:At the end of this 6 months, he has a feast in which there is even more drinking. And during at one point of this feast, King Ahasuerus likely in some kind of drunken stupor, he begins to boast, you know, you saw the 180 thing, a 180 days of my possessions, but you should see my wife. You really should see my wife. Matter of fact, somebody go get her. Somebody go get my wife and bring her out here.
Jeffrey Heine:And so he sends his servants to go get Queen Vashti. And for reasons completely unknown, Queen Vashti did not feel like coming and exhibiting herself before about a 1000 drunken men. We're we're not really sure why she didn't want to do this, but she refused. This actually took a lot of bravery, more bravery than perhaps, you know, not posting that picture, you know, for the rest of the world to gawk at. This one actually had some serious, serious consequences for her.
Jeffrey Heine:She was a queen. She was supposed to do the king's bidding. She was supposed to represent him before the people. This was a hierarchical society, which to go against that could have some pretty big implications, and it did. It actually cost her being queen.
Jeffrey Heine:She was banished. Her crown was removed. So after this, King Ahasuerus, he decides, well, I need to get a new queen after he banishes Vashti, and he waits a few years, but then, after getting counsel from his cabinet, he decides, all right, this is how we need to go about doing it. We're gonna go out and we're gonna gather all of the beautiful women throughout the land, and historians will tell you that they likely gathered between a few 100 and up to a1000 young, beautiful virgins to come and to be part of his harem. And this is where we meet Esther.
Jeffrey Heine:She's one of these women. Esther was a Jewish orphaned girl. She's probably about 18 years old. She'd been raised by her uncle, Mordecai. We get a description about her in verse 7, chapter 2, verse 7.
Jeffrey Heine:Says, he was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at. Now, this description is is very important for us. First off, we we get to see why she was picked by King Ahasuerus, and it wasn't for her character. Ahasuerus didn't pick Esther because, he wanted to find somebody intellectually stimulating to him, or He wanted somebody who was independent and had brains.
Jeffrey Heine:He picked Esther because she was beautiful and she was malleable. That's why he picked her. In other words, she was a 10 who wouldn't resist them. So, she literally is a beauty queen. But, in addition to finding out this detail that she's got quite the form and she's really beautiful, the narrator lets us know that she has two names.
Jeffrey Heine:She's Hadassah. That's her Jewish name, and then she's Esther, that's her Persian name. This is the the narrator's way of letting us know early on in this story that this is a young woman who's caught in between 2 worlds. She's got one foot in the Jewish culture, she's got one foot in the Persian culture. Certainly, she knew about the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:Certainly, she knew about, the Jewish law, having been raised by Mordecai and as a Jew, but yet she's also only known Persia. She's been deeply influenced by that pagan culture, and so she has got her feet in both worlds. Now, we know nothing about how Esther is feeling throughout all of this, alright? We don't know whether she feels taken by the king or whether she feels chosen by the king. We don't know.
Jeffrey Heine:We don't know whether she was appalled at the prospect of having to live and to be a part of this harem, or whether this really excited her, knowing that she would live a very pampered and sensual life. The the narrator is completely silent. We know nothing about what she is feeling, only that she seems to be out of control and kind of a a pawn in this system. We only know what happens to her. And what happens to her is this, she's taken off, and for an entire year, she has given daily beauty treatments.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, she was already beautiful, but now for an entire year, people are devoted to making her more beautiful. Daily beauty treatments, cosmetics given to her, and then she has lessons on how she can please the king. We do know this, that Esther gives herself completely to this process. She offers no resistance whatsoever. She keeps her Jewish identity hidden, and she literally does everything they ask of her.
Jeffrey Heine:And the end result is this, when she finally gets that one time with the king, that one night with the king, she goes and she sleeps with him, and the king says, she was the best of all of them. That's my queen. I like her more than all of the others. All right, there's Esther. Stop for a second and evaluate.
Jeffrey Heine:Why in the world is this in the Bible? All right. Why is this here? I mean, what could it possibly teach us? I wanna look at 4 things.
Jeffrey Heine:I wanna go through 4 things rather quickly that this story teaches us. It teaches us about the empty values of the world. The empty values of the world. It teaches us about the hidden sovereignty of God. It teaches us teaches us about the type of person that God actually uses, and it teaches us about grace.
Jeffrey Heine:Grace that will transform us. Let's look at the empty values of this world. So we begin with that party, that parade of King Ahasuerus. The guy is so wealthy, so powerful, it takes 180 days to parade his possessions in front of everyone. So he represents the wealth and the power, and we know why Esther's there.
Jeffrey Heine:She's there because she is beautiful. So just take a pause here as you're reading this, and just reflect at how fortunate we are as a society that we have evolved so much, that men are no longer judged by their wealth or their power, and that women are no longer judged by their appearance or sexuality? Aren't you glad that we have finally evolved to a culture that we have put those things behind us? We haven't. This culture never changes.
Jeffrey Heine:The world never changes. This is what the world values, wealth, power, beauty, sexuality. That's why it applies to us so relative relevantly. But the narrator is writing this in such a way to show you just how empty those things are. And think of this, despite being the most powerful and wealthy man in the world, don't you get a sense that he's also really insecure?
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, how insecure do you have to be to, to invite all these people over to your home just to show them how you've made it. Let me just show you how awesome I am and how powerful I am and how much wealthier I am than you. I mean, we would never do that today, would we? Never, wouldn't we? Just wanna show people, let it slip about the great job we have or the great home we have or invite people over just to show off what we have bought.
Jeffrey Heine:It actually reminds me of Philip Yancey. Years ago, he he wrote this description of insanity. Says, this is insanity, buying what you do not want to impress people you do not like. It's King Ahasuerus right here. But our hearts are so insecure, We're looking for some validation.
Jeffrey Heine:We're looking for somebody to go, you're the man. That's awesome. And what's laughable about all of this is despite all of these displays of power, all this display of wealth, the greatest king in all of the earth at this time could not even get his wife to come when he asked her. He he was actually really kind of powerless. His own wife doesn't even wanna be with him.
Jeffrey Heine:And then he takes just this, should have been a small little family affair, and he makes it a national crisis. He gathers his royal cabinet together, his royal officials. He's like, what are we gonna do about this, this national crisis? My wife didn't come. And so they think and they strategize and they come up with all these laws and they pass this law throughout the land.
Jeffrey Heine:To all of the wives in Persia, you must obey your husbands without hesitation. You must respect them in your own home. Your husband is lord over his home. So he takes this little thing and he blows it up completely out of proportion. Why in the world would he have such an over the top reaction to your wife not coming?
Jeffrey Heine:And the reason is is because it was an identity issue. She had taken a knock at his identity. I mean, who was the king if he wasn't powerful, and if he wasn't wealthy? And when you try to build your entire identity on the things like this, then the smallest little thing is gonna bring it all down. It's a house of cards.
Jeffrey Heine:You're gonna become hyper protective of everything you have accumulated. You're gonna become hypersensitive to any criticism that comes your way or hypersensitive to what everybody else thinks about you, because you've built your house like a deck of cards or a house of cards, and things just fall apart. I mean, you just gotta wonder, why why can't the king just let it go? I mean, it's just everybody's in a drunken stupor anyway, and if he just calls his wife and says, She's not coming, he could have been like, Ah, whatever. And everything would have been fine, but he couldn't let it go.
Jeffrey Heine:And he can't let it go for the same reason you can't let some things go, the same reason some things bother you so much is because people have hidden an identity issue. You're attacking what you've built your whole life on. So we learn about the empty values of this world. Second thing we learn is about the hidden sovereignty of God. So you are certainly tempted to ask, where is God in all of this?
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, it's an interesting story. You gotta I mean, it's it's a fascinating story, but what does it actually teach us about God? It teaches us a lot. We're gonna see later that a plan is is about to be put in place, and when it's executed, it will kill every single Jewish person in the Persian empire. So all of the Jews are about to be annihilated.
Jeffrey Heine:And what you need to see here is that if the king doesn't get drunk, and if he doesn't make this stupid boast, and if Vashti doesn't refuse, and then is removed as queen, and then Esther is not promoted to be queen, then every Jewish person would perish. And this is important because when you think of the Lord working, when you think of Him moving in this world, you think of those big things. You think plagues. You think parting of the Red Sea. You think giving manna.
Jeffrey Heine:You think armies of angels, but you don't think of a person getting drunk and bragging. If you're at a office party, perhaps a Christmas office party, and your boss gets drunk, things get a little crazy, he gets drunk, and he begins saying all these outlandish things, have you ever taken a step back and go, that is God at work? I mean, just so clear, God, you're amazing, like, but he is. If the king had not got drunk, all the Jewish people perish. God is working through these things.
Jeffrey Heine:That's what that's what Esther's all about. Esther is experiencing God's hand the way most of us do, and that is not through miraculous deeds, not through great displays of power, but through what seem to be everyday common events that we don't give another moment's thought. God is working powerfully through those things. And Esther's awakening our eyes to this. And while he's not upfront, he is working behind the curtain.
Jeffrey Heine:But we're tempted to look, and all we see is King Ahasuerus on his throne, but we wonder, where is God? He certainly doesn't seem to be on his, but then we start taking a step back and we're like, although king Ahasuerus is on his throne, he really doesn't have the power. He really doesn't have the wealth. And it certainly seems like somebody else is ruling. Let's look at the type of person that God uses.
Jeffrey Heine:Besides not mentioning God, another reason this book has become so controversial is because there really is not any Vashti, who seems to be a better person, queen Vashti or Esther? Who seems to be the person of greater character, the pagan queen or Esther? I mean, queen Vashti, she at least had enough dignity to refuse to, to publicly display herself like that, to just be the king's pawn. And she she was brave enough to do that, and she suffered the consequences for it. Esther?
Jeffrey Heine:Esther's a Barbie doll. Alright. I've got I've got Barbie dolls all around my house. I mean, I've got 3 girls. I should I should put that out there first.
Jeffrey Heine:I got 3 girls, they play with the Barbies. So what so we have Barbies everywhere. All a Barbie is is this really attractive little woman that you can make do whatever you want. That's Esther. She's just a play thing for everybody else.
Jeffrey Heine:She doesn't offer any resistance to anyone. She's like, you want me to play dress up? I'll play dress up. You want me to wear that? I'll wear that.
Jeffrey Heine:You want me to put on that makeup? I'll put on that makeup. You want me to spend a night with the king? I'll do that. No resistance.
Jeffrey Heine:You want me to hide my faith? Okay, I'll hide my faith. She has, we don't see any faith at all. Maybe she has something that's just hidden, but we see absolutely no faith, and we certainly see no backbone for Esther. And this is coming right off the heels of Daniel and Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego who were placed in almost the exact same situation.
Jeffrey Heine:They were ripped from their homes. They were placed in the king's court. But you look at them, and they're examples. They're like, we're not gonna eat the king's food, we're gonna keep this Jewish dietary law. Daniel was known for praying every single day.
Jeffrey Heine:Esther's not really somebody you wanna model after. And so what kind of example is she setting? Alright, so when I, if I wanna use Esther to teach my girls about how to be a, how to grow up into godly womanhood, I mean, what examples am I supposed to use? Am I supposed to say, Hey, girls, make yourselves as attractive as possible so you can attract powerful men? Is that the lesson?
Jeffrey Heine:Or how about this? Hey, girls. The ends always justify the means. Always. So do whatever you have to do to get to this point.
Jeffrey Heine:Or or, hey, girls, God can use your body to advance the kingdom. I mean, I, you're grasping at straws when you're looking at Esther, and if you wanna see her as an example for how we should follow. She is not an example. She utterly fails. So this is what we know about Esther up to this point.
Jeffrey Heine:She's become completely compliant to all these pagan influences around her. She will not let anybody know about her faith, or if she even has some. She's likely breaking all these Jewish dietary laws because she's eating whatever they put in front of her. She goes and she sleeps with a man she is not married to. And then she marries a man who is not a believer.
Jeffrey Heine:So let me ask you, how are you feeling about Esther right now? There was a person after the first service came up to me and he was raised Jewish and goes, I didn't hear any of that about Esther growing up. Never thought about her that way. It's like, so but but how how is she measuring up? How do you feel about her?
Jeffrey Heine:Likely, you probably feel the same way I feel about her, which is, she was wrong technically, but, I mean, I'm not saying that what she didn't do was wrong. I mean, it's clearly wrong. You shouldn't do those things, but I mean, what choice does she have? What choice does she have? That's exactly the point of these first couple of chapters.
Jeffrey Heine:Exactly what choice did she have. Isn't she just caught up some kind of powerful, sinful current, that cultural current? Just like we are. Lauren and I, we've been talking a lot about this this week, just trying to process the life of Esther and think, what examples could I use? And a couple just popped up.
Jeffrey Heine:I want us to look at sports. Sports. Like most of you out there who have children, we want our parent we want our children to be active. We want our children to play sports, but who can deny that sports has become an idol in our culture? It's an absolute idol in our culture.
Jeffrey Heine:So, even middle school leagues are gonna require that, that you have to spend all of this time. You go to not just all these games, but you have all these long practices. Your entire schedule has to be reworked just for your middle school child to play soccer. And then, of course, games are gonna be planned on Sundays. Thankfully, we now have three services, so we can kinda navigate around that.
Jeffrey Heine:And then there's many parents out there who are gonna hire private coaches so that their children could beat mine. Alright? So that their children could be better prepared than mine are. I'm like, well, what am I gonna do about that? Well, now I gotta start, you know, looking up YouTube videos and all this about how to make my kids better at the sport.
Jeffrey Heine:And he says, but but what do you do? You say no, we're not gonna be a part of that. You say that, and what's what's the alternative? You're gonna deny your child the chance to be part of a team? Deny your child the experience of getting to participate with all of their friends?
Jeffrey Heine:Or do you just kinda grit your teeth and you give in? I'll tell you this, either way, you're not happy with your decision. Either way, you put them in it or you take them out, you feel like you've compromised. We're swept in this current. Any of you feel good about how you voted this last election?
Jeffrey Heine:You feel good about I mean, you went in there, and you're like, I mean, I've kinda feel forced. I'm like, I gotta choose something. Whatever you decided, you hated yourself afterwards, didn't you? What about buying your child a cell phone? How does that look?
Jeffrey Heine:I just heard a lot of y'all just groan at that one. Wow. I mean, do you think it's a good idea for a middle schooler to, to have an iPhone? It's all hypothetical. I mean, you you see the potential dangers in this that come with it.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, dangers that come with getting, perhaps a middle schooler or a cell phone, from screen addiction to perhaps opening a door in which they live out their lives in the shallowness of social media. Get them started early on that. To texting all the time, to maybe the inappropriate text or inappropriate images that might come in, and I just gave a daughter the doorway to all of that. But then you realize, well, it's really hard to live without one. Besides all the social pressure to get one, you really just kinda feel excluded at that point.
Jeffrey Heine:You're not in these group texts. You're not included with what all of your friends are doing. You really you don't even know about a lot of the things. What do you do? I only know this, that whatever you decide, you will hate your decision.
Jeffrey Heine:You'll hate it. And the reason is because you're being swept up in this sinful cultural current and you really don't feel even free. You feel like a lot of your decisions are being made for you. Who who will set me free from this? Paul would ask, who will?
Jeffrey Heine:So we find ourselves in a very similar situation to Esther. Don't you feel at times caught or trapped? Things are getting out of control. Here's a question. How are you going to keep from becoming a concubine to the world?
Jeffrey Heine:How are you? How do you keep from selling yourself to whoever or to do whatever or become whatever the world wants you to be. Let me tell you, the book of Esther doesn't tell you yet. That's just the Ts. All right, you gotta come back next week.
Jeffrey Heine:Hopefully, it's piqued your interest. Now, this 0.3 was supposed to be about what kind this is the kind of person that the Lord uses. I want you to know that Esther is the type of person that the Lord uses. One who is compromised, one who feels trapped, one who hasn't made the best decisions. God uses that type of person.
Jeffrey Heine:In other words, God can use you. He can use you because of this. He's not going to leave you there. He is pursuing you far more than you pursue Him. God is going to transform you and he's going to do that because of point number 4, his grace, his grace, His grace is why He is going to use you.
Jeffrey Heine:God lavishes His grace upon you. The story of Esther is a story of God's lavished grace. Esther does not pray, she makes some poor moral decisions, she is not seeking the Lord at any part during this story, and yet, I hope you see, God is pursuing her. Although she is not pursuing God, God is pursuing her, and God is lavishing grace on her, protecting her, and he's gonna begin transforming her life into where she becomes a godly woman who will not be scared to identify with her people. This is who I stand up for her beliefs no matter the cost.
Jeffrey Heine:And stand up for her beliefs no matter the cost. She's not gonna be what everybody else wants her to be. She's gonna become the person God wants her to be through God's grace. God's not gonna leave you where you are. He's gonna transform you.
Jeffrey Heine:I hope you realize that up to this point, Esther is the exact opposite of everything Christ is. She's the opposite of everything Christ is. Jesus grew up in the palace, and he gave it all up to go and to be identified with his people, and to humble himself, and to live among them. And although Jesus was put in impossible circumstances, he refused to compromise, ever. He lived in It it resulted in Him being elevated on the cross.
Jeffrey Heine:It cost Jesus His life. He's the anti Esther up to this point in the story, But that is why he's Esther's hope. It's because Jesus is nothing like her. Listen, the only way that Esther or any of us can ever be pulled out of the situation we are in It is if we have the words beauty and wealth and power redefined for us by the cross, Redefined. Hear this.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus does not tell you that you are beautiful because of how you look. Jesus tells you you are beautiful because of how he looks upon you. And he looks upon you and he sees the righteousness imputed to you through his death and resurrection. When we begin to focus, not on how the kings of this world look upon us, but on how the King of Kings looks upon us, real transformation begins to take place. When we begin to focus on the wealth that we have in Christ, instead of the wealth that this world offers, we begin to be transformed.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, the wealth of Persia is nothing compared to being co heirs with Christ. Nothing. And the more and more these truths begin to break into our lives, the more and more we begin to be free, actually can make free decisions that are pleasing to the Lord. The gospel just has to work in and to break us of these things. And praise God that we see this ever increasingly so in the life of Esther.
Jeffrey Heine:Pray with me. Father, I pray for every person here who feels trapped, who feels burdened, who feels like their every decision is either between sin or something even more sinful. God, I pray that the gospel would break through. May we feel beautiful, not because of how we look, but because of how you look upon us. And Lord, may the wealth that you give us, the power you give us, the beauty you give us, be the defining thing in our lives.
Jeffrey Heine:Everything else is a house of cards. And so, father, I pray that through your spirit, you would make these things real to us. I pray this in the strong name of Jesus.