For Such a Time as This: If I Perish, I Perish
Esther 4
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
08-23-2020
Check
When I was in high school, I belonged to the chess club. Yes, I was a dork! But I truly enjoyed playing chess against my friends, especially in study hall.
There were about one hundred students in this study hall and it was supervised by the football coach. Every once in a while, he would get so frustrated with the noise level that he would have everyone stand against the wall for the reminder of the class period.
One day, he ordered everyone to the wall…except for the four of us playing chess. We volunteered to stand on the wall as well, but he said we were the only ones being quiet so we could keep playing.
Imagine the scene. One hundred students mad about standing the rest of the period against the wall all watching the four geeks play their chess games. I never wanted to disappear so bad in my life!
I love chess. I love the fact that you have to think through multiple moves ahead and what may look like randomness can actually be a strategy.
What’s interesting about watching someone play is that sometimes you can see clearly from above the board what they can’t see at all.
“Why would they move their knight there? They are playing right into their opponents hands. Knight takes Rook. Saw the coming.”
In the book of Esther, a game of chess is being played, except with cosmic implications.
Satan carefully moved Haman into position and gleefully hissed, “Check!”
But we will see that God has his own plan and has a queen and a pawn moving in for the kill, or in chess language, “Checkmate!”
A Genocide in Coming
Last week, we watched as Mordecai uncovered a plot to assassinate King Xerxes. The two conspirators were hanged and this event was recorded in the chronicles of the king.
But instead of Mordecai getting a promotion, Haman the Agagite, was chosen to be Xerxes right hand man.
The Israelites and Amalekites had been enemies for centuries. Mordecai was a descendant of King Saul and Haman was a descendant of Agag, the king of the Amalekites. This was like the Hatfield and McCoys on steroids!
Mordecai refused to bow to Haman and in response Haman decides to commit genocide and wipe out every Jew, (man, woman, child, young and old), in the entire province of Persia.
Using the “pur,” clay dice used for divination, a date was chosen - exactly eleven months from that day.
Haman approached the king and told him that there were people in his kingdom that didn’t obey his laws and it wasn’t in his best interest to tolerate them.
Haman offers an absurd amount of money to the king’s treasury and Xerxes responded with utter indifference: “do with these people as you please.”
The edict went out, arriving on the Jew’s doorstep the night before Passover. Would God save them again? Had they disobeyed one too many times? Why was this happening?
The entire empire, especially Susa, was thrown into complete confusion. But Xerxes and Haman went to have a few beers together.
This brings us to the hinge chapter in the book of Esther. Within these verses are the most two of the most famous statements in all the Bible.
Although God hasn’t been mentioned in this book so far, we are going to see that He continues to move behind the scenes to get everyone into position to delivery his children.
Let’s continue to remind ourselves that:
“God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” - John Piper
Turn with me to Esther 4.
Prayer.
Mordecai’s Mourning
“When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.” (Esther 4:1-3)
When Mordecai learned of Haman’s plan, he was overcome with grief. He tore his clothes. Clothes were expensive so this was an act of sacrifice. It symbolized their broken hearts. Throughout the Scriptures, we see examples of people tearing their clothes in anguish.
The Jews weren’t the only ones who tore their clothes when in their misery. The Persians would have recognized Mordecai’s distress because they tore their clothes as well, especially when they suffered military defeats at the hand of the Greeks.
He went home and got sackcloth out of his closet and put it on.
This garment would have been made of dark goat hair and it was very coarse, like a modern potato sack. It would be very uncomfortable against your skin.
He reached into the fire place and took a handful of ashes and dumped it over his head.
He would have stood out in a crowd for sure!
He went out into the city wailing loudly and bitterly. He might have been assimilated into the Persian kingdom but now he has no problem identifying with his Jewish brothers and sisters.
All over the empire, as the edict went out, Jews joined Mordecai in public displays of grief with fasting, weeping, and wailing.
Mordecai went as far as the king’s gate but he could go no farther because people who had on sackcloth to show their mourning were not allowed into the royal citadel.
Esther’s Isolation
“When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.” (Esther 4:4-5)
Obviously, Mordecai caused enough of a scene that Esther’s attendants heard the report and told Esther about Mordecai’s behavior.
Esther loved Mordecai and the thought of him in that much grief distressed Esther greatly. In fact, the Hebrew word here is “a physical response to pain or anguish.”
So what did she do? She sent him a new suit and it was probably a really nice one!
Why did she do that?
Persian customs permit the next of kin to send the grieving person a new set of clothes for when they are ready to move on from their mourning.
Maybe she wanted to try to sneak him in the palace and he would have to dressed appropriately.
But the most probably reason for this strange gift was Esther’s isolation. She literally didn’t know what was going on. She didn’t know about the edict or about why Mordecai was acting so strangely.
Mordecai refused the new clothes so Esther called on one of her most trusted servants Hathak, (whose name means “good”) to go find Mordecai and ask him what was really going on.
Mordecai’s Request
“So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.” (Esther 4:6-8)
Hathak found Mordecai in the marketplace. As always, Mordecai was in the know about all the details of Haman’s plot, including the exact amount of money that Haman had offered to the king.
Notice that he says, “what has happened to him.” Was he feeling guilt over his role in the coming genocide? Did he regret not bowing to Haman? We aren’t told.
He had a copy of the edict, probably in Hebrew, for Hathak to take back to Esther to read.
He then issues her a direct instruction - “go into the king’s palace and beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.”
Wait? What do you mean “her people?” He had been very clear that she should hide the fact that she was a Jew and now he is wanting her to spill the beans to the king?
By the way, this would the last time that Mordecai will give orders to Esther. Things are about to change.
Esther’s Predicament
“Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.” (Esther 4:9-11)
Esther’s response? That’s easy for you to say!
Everyone knows the rules of protocol of the royal court. There were seven nobles that could enter to see the king at any time, except when was with one of wives or concubines.
Other than that, anyone who approaches the king without be asked will be put to death. A contemporary historian described Xerxes as being surrounded by men with axes just waiting to cut someone’s head off.
The odds of dying were about 100% unless the king extended the golden scepter and spared their life.
Then Esther sent back the message that the king has grown bored with his queen, (she’s been queen now for five years), and she hasn’t been summoned in a month. (The king’s bed wasn’t empty during this time)
Esther is counting the cost and it doesn’t look good for her. She afraid. She’s faint hearted. She lacks the courage to see her way through this dilemma.
I love what Beth Moore says, “We are not born brave. Courage is not the lack of fear but the judgement that there is something more important than fear.”
Mordecai’s Challenge
“When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:12-14)
Mordecai understood the stakes. The entire Jewish population was at risk of being annihilated. This was no time for half-hearted excuses.
First, he reminds her that the palace will not protect her. Sooner or later, someone will discover her identity and she will be slaughtered like all the rest.
If she someone manages to go undetected, then her heart is as good as dead. She has betrayed her family legacy and her people.
Mordecai actually uses a play on words here. Remember, that Esther can mean “hidden or concealed.” The same word is used when he says, “if you remain silent.”
Mordecai tells Hathak in no uncertain terms that deliverance will come, whether through Esther or from “another place.” This is as close as the book of Esther comes to saying the name of God.
Mordecai knows the covenant promises of God to protect his people and he is trusting that God is working behind the scenes to get them out of this mess.
Then he says the most famous line in the entire book:
“Who knows but you have come to your royal position for such a time as a this?”
Mordecai can only see the chess board from the ground level but he’s seen enough “coincidences” to know that it isn’t a fluke that Esther is queen right now.
Christopher Ash writes:
“Who knows? Mordecai doesn’t know how God will rescue His people, although He knows His will. Maybe the reason Vashti defied the king and got dismissed nine years before didn’t just “happen;” perhaps the reason the king’s advisors suggested the beauty contest and Esther won wasn’t just chance; maybe all this had happened for a purpose, so that you Esther can mediate with the king for your people at this time of desperate need. Who know whether behind the coincidences and the rolling of dice there is a hidden hand so ordering events, that you Esther, one of His covenant people, are in the position you are now for such a time as this.”
But if she chooses not to act, God will still rescue them another way.
Do you feel Esther’s predicament? If she doesn’t act, she could be slaughtered along with all her people. If she does act, there’s a good chance that she going to get her head cut off.
That’s not much of a choice.
Remember that Esther is the only character in this story with two names - Hadassah, (Hebrew) and Esther (Persian). She tried to balance the line between these two cultures but now she would have to make a decision.
It is Hadassah that sends back the answer to Mordecai.
Esther’s Choice
“Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.” (Esther 4:15-17)
She starts given orders to Mordecai now. Something is changing. The passive little beauty queen will become the hero of our story.
She tells Mordecai to gather the Jews and fast for her for three days and three nights. (Sound familiar?).
She knew that this would take the community supporting her and each other to make a difference.
I felt that on Friday. I got the shingles vaccine on Thursday morning and it wrecked me. I had a terrible night and spent the day on Friday working on the sermon while feeling terrible.
I’m so thankful for the prayers, calls, and texts I received from my church family!
Although, the text doesn’t specifically say that they prayed, fasting and prayer went together.
She will also fast and share with her attendants why and who she really is.
When the three days is over, she will approach the king, not as a beautiful queen, but as a dehydrated, hungry, sunken-eyed, sad servant.
Then she makes her choice - “if I perish, I perish.” She’s locked in. She has to do something to try to save her people. She will either get through to the king or die trying.
Mordecai hurried off to carrying out Esther’s instructions.
So, we stop on the edge of our seats. Will Xerxes extend the royal scepter and spare her life or will her head end up in a basket? You will have to join us next week for the rest of the story.
Observations
Mourning in the Bible
The kind of mourning that we witnessed in this passage is very foreign to our Western ears. In the east, tearing of clothes, throwing ashes, and grieving as a community is far more common.
In our culture, we grieve privately and most of the time in a very unhealthy manner, especially men.
Grieving over a loved one’s death, or over a divorce, or a lost job or dream is normal and healthy.
My first real experience with grief wasn’t until my mid 20s. A student in our youth group named LeeAnn was killed in a car wreck June 18, 1997.
She had eaten dinner with us three night before. She was a hilarious lover of Jesus.
I remember pacing the floor, saying again and again “this can’t be true.”
I remember standing at the casket, looking down at my young friend, and repeating, “God you are good!”
I remember crying so hard at the graveside that someone had to step in a say the final prayer.
I remember being scared to drive for months and I became fearful about “who was next.”
Paul writes in I Thessalonians 4:13 that our grieving is to be different than that of the world. We are to not to “grieve as those who have no hope.”
I’ve had the honor of doing a lot of funerals and I’ve seen people grieve without hope.
My aunt died at cancer at 32 years old. A couple of days before she died, my mother begged her to talk to a pastor. Diane said, “I’ve lived without God and I’ll die without God.”
That funeral was the darkest event I’ve ever been apart of in my life. It was utterly without hope.
But I’ve done funerals for people that understood that death is not the worst thing that can happen to you. We’ve cried, laughed, and celebrated the fact that their loved ones are finally home.
There is no right way to mourn. We all mourn in our own way.
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross identified stages of grief that are normal to go through - denial, anger,, bargaining, depression, acceptance.
These stages aren’t linear and you can cycle through all five within a hour.
After my mother died, my dad described grief as standing on the beach. In the distance, you see a little wave that grows bigger and bigger. Your feet are stuck in the sand. You can’t move and the huge wave washed over you, almost drowning you.
Could I give you some things not to say to someone grieving?
* They’re in a better place.
At the funeral home with LeeAnn, one of our deacons was going around chastising everyone about crying. He would say, “Think about what she has seen? She’s seen the face of God. She wouldn’t want us crying like this.”
I had to take him aside and tell him that if he didn’t cut it out my wife was going punch him in the throat!
* God just must have needed another angel.
Pet peeve time! We don’t turn into angels when we die! Angels and humans are two different things. Apples and oranges.
* Why are you acting that way?
We buried another student named Mitch in 2011. At the grave site, I went around one of the cars and found his mother smoking a cigarette. She started crying and apologizing.
I started weeping. It destroyed me that she thought I cared about her smoking. We were putting her 16 year old in the ground. She could smoke all she wanted to.
* Fill the air with words.
Most people don’t know what to say when someone is grieving so they just fill the air with words. Please don’t do that. Sometimes it’s best not to say anything at all.
In Jospeh Barly book, “The Last Thing we Talk About,” he writes this:
“I was sitting, torn by grief. Someone came and talked to me of God’s dealings, of why it happened, of hope beyond the grave. He talked constantly, he said things I knew were true.
I was unmoved, except to wish he’d go away. He finally did.
Another came and sat beside me. He didn’t talk. He didn’t asked leading questions. He just sat beside me for an hour and more, listened when I said something, answered briefly, prayed simply, left.
I was moved. I was comforted. I hated to see him go.”
* Isn’t it about time you move on?
Grief is a process. Sometimes a very long process.
We lost Kimmy in 2014 and we are still in that process.
We need to give people the freedom to grieve in their own way.
I remember reading about the politician John Edwards who lost a sixteen year old in an accident. He said, “It’s like losing a leg. Eventually it stops hurting so bad but every time you look down you realize something missing.”
Cole Swindell has become a true country music star over the past couple of years. His dad who was his biggest cheerleaders to chase his dreams, died of a heart attack right before his album came out.
He wrote a song for his dad that makes me think of Kimmy every time I hear it:
You should be here, standing with your arm around me here
Cutting up, cracking a cold beer
Saying cheers, hey y'all it's sure been a good year
It's one of those moments, that's got your name written all over it
And you know that if I had just one wish it'd
Be that you didn't have to miss this
You should be here.
Do you know how I know that it’s okay to grieve?
Because Jesus did!
“Jesus wept,” is how John records it in John 11. Not a single tear but a flood of raw emotion. In fact, He wept so loudly many in the crowd called attention to the depth of His love for Lazarus. Jesus’ tears tell us more than that.
Doesn’t it seem strange to you that Jesus would cry? Soon, Lazarus would stumble out of the cave, shake loose the grave clothes, and be reunited with his family and friends.
If Jesus knew how the story would end, then why cry at all? Because He saw first-hand what death does to us and it broke his heart.
Jesus saw, and experienced, the soul-crushing pain that death brings –the sleepless nights, the loss of appetite, the sadness, and the tears, especially the tears.
It broke His heart and strengthened His resolve. This madness must be stopped.
After raising Lazarus, Jesus set a course toward Jerusalem. He had His own appointment with death. With His death on the cross and His resurrection, Jesus Christ defeated death once and for all. He turned death from a black hole of hopelessness to a door of destiny.
The Apostle Paul understood this well:
“Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Cor 15:54-57).
If you are grieving today, know that “God is close to the broken hearted and with those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)
Eastview Christian Church has a grief share group that you may want to check out.
For Such a Time as This
This week, I was talking to one of our church family and he was telling me how God has orchestrated him living in this town, at this time, across the street from a young man who needs a mentor.
I reminded him that God had placed him in that position for such a time as this!
Why are you here? Why weren’t you born in 1732 or 2145? Why do you live in Chenoa? Why are you here at this church? Why is this church here in this community?
Let me share something very important. You were made on purpose with a purpose and for a purpose! God has a purpose and plan for you that goes well beyond you imagination.
We love to quote this verse out of context but if you understand the context it is even more powerful:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jer 29:11)
Jeremiah said this to the exiles headed off to 70 years of Babylonian captivity!
Maybe you would say to me, “Pastor, I’m just not sure God could use after everything that I’ve done.”
Put yourself in the Jews sandals in the Persian empire.
Wait…our hope hangs on Esther? The Jewess who hid her identity, broke nearly every mosaic law there is, step with a pagan, uncircumcised Persian king, and basically has lived a Persian for the last ten years? That’s who is going rescue us? Great!
Before you say you are disqualified for God to use you, listen to this:
Noah got drunk. Abraham was too old. Isaac was ADHD. Jacob was a liar. Joseph was arrogant. Moses stuttered and was a murderer. Gideon was afraid. Samson was buckwild. Rahab was a prostitute. Jeremiah and Timothy were too young. David was a murderer and committed adultery. Elijah was suicidal. Jonah was racist. Martha and Timothy were worry-warts. The Samaritan woman had been married five times. Naomi was a widow. And Lazarus was DEAD!
You may also say, “Well I’m just one person, what difference can I really make?”
I love this picture. [picture of man standing in front of a column of tanks in China’s Tiananmen Square]
Let me tell you the story of Esther Kim. In 1939, she stood on on top of a hill at the shrine of the sun god and knew she had a decision to make. The Japanese had taken over Korea two years before and she knew that not bowing at the shrine meant prison, torture and probably death.
Many other Christians had decided it was okay to bow to the sun god as long as they worshipped the real God in their hearts.
But not Esther Kim. She prayed, “Today on this mountain before this large crowd, I will proclaim that there is no other God but You, Lord…I’m so weak…please help me to do this.”
Everyone with her bowed but she did not and turned her eyes to the sky. On the way back home, she prayed, “I did what you wanted me to do. I died back there on that mountain. Now it is only You who lives me. I leave everything else in your hands.”
She went into hiding and began fasting, praying, memorizing Scripture and preparing her heart for torture and death.
She came of hiding not the frail, fearful young girl but a powerful, bold ambassador for Christ. She began to share the Gospel with the Japanese.
She was arrested and spent 6 years in Japanese prisons being tortured, starved, and threatened with death. She never wavered. She shared her food with other prisoners and her faith with her guards.
When she was released from prison, she wrote her story down in book form and it became the all-time religious best seller in Korea, inspiring countless others to stand strong in their faith.
Do you know your purpose? I don’t care if you are 8 or 88. What has God called you to do right now that you are scared of doing? Why are you here, right now? What is your “for such a time as this?”
[Video: Born for This - Mandisa]
Jesus in The Main Point
Tim Keller points out that Esther would save her people through identification and mediation.
Haman’s decree was bad. All the Jews would be killed in one day.
But there is another decree that is even worse.
“The soul that sins shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:20)
Because of our sin, we are separated from God.
“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2)
There is no way to be good enough to earn back God’s favor and we can’t hop high enough for His holiness.
In other words, we were completely helpless, hopeless, and hell bound.
We needed someone to identify with us like Esther was being asked to identify with her people.
Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, became a human being, identifying with us, and walked this earth for 33 years.
Because Jesus was human, yet never sinned, He could be our representative and die on the cross in our place, for our sins.
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6,8)
We needed someone to mediate for us. Because Esther had access to the throne room, she was perfectly set up to be the mediator for the Jewish people. She was Jewish but also a Persian Queen!
Jesus, our Mediator, who was human and Divine, was able to enter the throne room of God and make His case for us.
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.” (1 Timothy 2:5)
Jesus didn’t say, “If I perish, I perish.” He said I’ve come to die so that you may live!
“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Admit you’re a sinner. Accept Christ’s sacrifice on the cross in your place on your behalf. Surrender your life to Him today.
[At the Cross Love Ran Red]
