Esther, reading chapter 4 and
part of chapter 5. To put this chapter in context,
the decree has been made by the king, as suggested by Haman,
that all the Jews should be killed. And that news has reached Mordecai
by this time, of course, Queen Esther is in the palace as queen. We pick up the account in chapter
four. When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent
his clothes and put on sackcloth with ashes and went out into
the midst of the city and cried with a loud and a bitter cry
and came even before the king's gate for none might enter into
the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. And in every province,
whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was
a great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and
wailing, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. So Esther's maids
and her chamberlains came and told it her. Then was the queen
exceedingly grieved, and she sent Raymond to clothe Mordecai
and to take away his sackcloth from him. but he received it
not. Then called Esther to Hethach,
one of the king's chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend
unto her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it
was and why it was. So Hethach went forth to Mordecai
into the street of the city, which was before the king's gate.
Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and of
the sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king's
treasuries for the Jews to destroy them. Also he gave him the copy
of the writing of the decree that was written in Shushan to
destroy them and to show it unto Esther and to declare it unto
her and to charge her that she should go in unto the king to
make supplication unto him and to make request before him for
her people. and Hatak came and told Esther
the words of Mordecai. Again, Esther spake unto Hatak
and gave him commandment unto Mordecai. All the king's servants
and the people of the king's provinces do know that whosoever,
whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner
court who is not called, there is one law of his to put him
to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden
scepter, that he may live. But I have not been called to
come in unto the king these thirty days.' And they told to Mordecai
Esther's words. Then Mordecai commanded to answer
Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the
king's house more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether
holdest thy peace at this time, Then shall their enlargement
and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place, but
thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed. And who knoweth
whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?'
Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer, Go, gather
together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast
ye for me. and neither eat nor drink three
days, night or day. I also and my maidens will fast
likewise, and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according
to the law. And if I perish, I perish.' So
Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther
had commanded him. Now it came to pass on the third
day that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner
court of the king's house over against the king's house. And
the king sat upon the royal throne in the royal house over against
the gate of the house. And it was so, when the king
saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained
favor in his sight. And the king held out to Esther
the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther drew near
and touched the top of the scepter. We'll leave the reading of God's
word there this evening. Well, we'll turn to his word
first this evening before we come to prayer. And I want to
consider this account that we've just read together briefly this
evening. Esther in the scriptures is an
unusual book. As we know, it is the only book
in scripture which has no direct reference to God. It has no clear
prophecy or revelation. It is purely narrative. It tells
a unique and a dramatic story. But though God, as we know, is
not directly mentioned, it is clear that God is throughout
the book of Esther from beginning to end. We see God in his providence
and how he ordered all events how he brought circumstances
and people to the right places at the right times, and how he
ordered in what may have seemed at the time strange ways. And
yet when we come to the end we can see his wisdom and his sovereignty
throughout this account. But Esther also has glimpses
of types Not only God seen in his dealings and his sovereignty
in Providence, but there is a type of God or a picture for us here
this evening. And it's this Esther going into
the king. We have to be careful with types
in the scriptures. We don't want to try and see
things that aren't there, but I believe this is a picture that
we can use. Because Esther was in a terrible
situation and had the sentence of death on herself, her family
and her people. And there was only one way by
which she could find any hope of deliverance. And she had to
go in to the King. Can we put ourselves into Esther's
shoes for a moment as she stands in the inner court of the king's
house, over against the king's house, in her royal apparel on
that day. She is heard from Mordecai that
a decree has been issued. She is questioned why he is mourning,
why he is in sackcloth and so forth, and he has told her what
is to happen, and what will happen not only to the Jews, but will
happen to her. He says, think not that thou
shalt escape in the king's house. And there she is with the prospect
of annihilation for the Jewish people in front of them. And
she stands in the courtyard. Everything hangs on this moment. Everything hangs on what happens
next for Queen Esther. How many reasons there must have
been, could have been in her mind for not going in. Think of the reasons that we
could have thought of for not going into the king, for not
standing in the courtyard in our royal apparel, for not doing
what Mordecai called us to do. Firstly, it's against the law
to do so. It's against the law to come
into the king's presence. She told Mordecai, all the king's
servants and the people of the king's provinces know And whosoever,
whether man or woman, shall come into the king, into the inner
court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him
to death, man or woman, whoever it may be, even the queen. It's against the law to come
into his presence uninvited. There's a reason to reject Mordecai's
request and to not approach the king. Another reason why she
may not have gone is because she was of herself one of the
condemned. She wasn't just speaking on behalf
of the Jewish people, she was a Jewess. She wasn't just making
representations on people who were downtrodden and in a very
difficult situation, she was one of them. She herself was
one of the condemned. She herself faced the death of
her people, and therefore as she comes in front of the king,
he could well have responded, oh, you are one of them. It may
have come out, it may have come to his knowledge. She was very
much involved. Another reason why she may not
have gone in is because she knows from experience what this king
does to disobedient queens. Vashti was summoned to come before
him and the people at his feast and she refused and as a result
she was cast out of her position. And that's how Queen Esther comes
into place in the first place. She knows full well what this
king does to disobedient queens. If she doesn't face death because
of her approaching uninvited, then surely she may face banishment
and being stripped of her position and another taking her place.
She knows what this king's track record is with disobedient queens. And then another reason she may
not have gone is because, well, from her personal position, thinking
selfishly, all was going well. Maybe there was a sentence of
death on the heads of other people, but she was all right. People
didn't know her position at that time. People didn't know her
heritage and her people. She was in favor. She hadn't
fallen out of favor like Vashti had, or perhaps others. She was
in favor with the king, and with Haytack, and with others in the
kingdom. But Though she may have thought
that she was well, and selfishly thought that she would be able
to hide in this situation, Mordecai makes it perfectly clear to her,
you will not escape, even in the king's house. So she may
have tried to convince herself, or could have tried to convince
herself. Lastly, another reason she may not have gone, or could
not have gone, is simply because she's not been invited for 30
days. She told Mordecai that she's
not coming to the king these 30 days. It was a long time since
he had last wanted her presence. It was a long time since she
had last asked for her to come. There had been a lapse. It's
not as if she spent every day in his presence, as if he constantly
invited her and welcomed her. There had been a gap of separation. She had not been called for 30
days. And therefore to stand in the
royal court that day in her royal apparel, boldly coming as it
may appear, uninvited into the presence of this King. If she
does so, or could well have done so, with great trembling. Well, as I say, there's a picture
here. Esther coming in, uninvited in one sense, into the presence
of the King. Here's a picture for us, coming
to the King. Coming to the King. of kings,
coming to our God. And that is what effectively
we do when we come to prayer. We are coming into the presence
of God. We are drawing near to His glorious
throne and we are supplicating Him, we are petitioning Him,
we are speaking with Him as a great and glorious King of kings, and
as Esther could have had reasons why she would not want to go,
so we sometimes have our reasons why we neglect prayer. We have reasons to keep us from
the throne of grace. Perhaps one reason we feel we
are kept from the throne of grace is because of the greatness and
the glory of God. If Esther and others tremble
to come before King Ahasuerus, most surely we tremble to come
into the presence of a great and glorious God. Not the God
of our own imagination, or a God like you and me, but a God who
inhabits eternity, a God who has always been, a God who spoke
all things into being, a God who can turn events at a moment,
a God who has everything and every person in his sovereign
hand. A God who can still the storm
and raise the dead. This is whose presence we come
into. But he is also a holy God. We come into the presence of
the pure one, the sinless one, the just one, the righteous one. And as we come into his presence,
surely we feel our utter unworthiness. Esther was queen. She had a position
in the kingdom. She had a place of authority
and respect in one sense. And yet she would be treated
exactly the same as anyone else if she wrongly comes to the king.
We are not elevated in any sense, for we are unworthy. We are unholy,
we are unjust, we are unrighteous, we are the opposite to God in
his purity and his holiness. So therefore when we consider
coming to him in prayer, we shrink away at times because of who
he is and who we are. And maybe we feel like that this
evening. A reason that keeps us from the
throne of grace, a reason which has kept us these past days from
really praying. How can I dare come to this king. Another reason that may be keeping
us from the throne of grace is the devil and the world around
us. We've been, many of us, not all
of us, involved in many things this week. Some of us have been
very busy, involved in work and at home and school and college,
and many things have filled our minds and our time. And there
are times, aren't there, when all of those things Well, we
become very attached to them. Become very attached to the world.
It becomes our world. It becomes our life. It becomes
what our heart goes after. And as a result, if we stop for
a moment and consider our spiritual state, we have to acknowledge
that it has deadened our heart. It has hardened our heart. And the devil is often at our
right hand just to tempt us away from the throne of grace. We
all know those times when we would come to the Lord in prayer
and as soon as we come to that moment, there's something that
distracts us. As soon as we come to the Lord,
there's something that fills our minds. As soon as we would
come, there's like the devil in Zachariah at our right hand
to resist us and how tempting it is to simply give up. to give
up to prayer, to say, well, I'm not in the right frame of mind,
it's too hard work, and we go on into our day having not attempted
or tried to come. The world has hardened us. The devil has drawn us away.
Maybe we feel like that this evening. You say, I've come to
a prayer meeting, I've come to pray, and yet I have no inclination
and no concern and no real desire for prayer. I'm filled with everything
else. Is that a reason that's stopping
us from prayer? And then like Esther, say she
hadn't been called for these 30 days, we come this evening
for prayer and we say, but we have neglected the throne of
grace for 30 days, maybe longer than 30 days. How is our prayer
life personally and collectively? How is our healthiness spiritually? And Esther had not gone in unto
the king for thirty days. Have we not, and honestly, tonight,
have we not gone in unto the king for thirty days? Have we
not really prayed for a long time? Oh, there may be the formal
prayers, there may be the family prayers, but no real prayer,
no real yearning, no real pouring out of soul in communion to God. There's not been prayer for these
thirty days. And now as we come tonight, well
we say, how can I come now? Like her, I haven't been for
30 days, how can I come now? And tonight we may say, I haven't
been for so long, how can I draw near tonight at a prayer meeting? So you see, there's so many reasons
we may put up, and we may feel tempted to think when coming
to God in prayer, why we cannot come, or should not come. But, Though Esther may have thought
these things, there's no indication that she did, and she did go. She went in unto the king. Why did she go? Well, she went
because she had to. She went because this was the
only way that she and her people could avoid death. She had to
go. It wasn't a trivial thing. She
wasn't asking the king for an unimportant thing or something
which didn't really matter. This was life and death. She
must go in unto the king if she wanted to live and if she wanted
her people to survive. She had to go. And she had to
go because she was the only one who could. God had put her there
for a purpose, Mordecai told her. Who knoweth whether thou
art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? No one else can
go. No one else can speak. No one
else will have this interest at heart like Esther does. You
are there for this perfect reason. You are there because God has
put you there. So you must go to the king. And you must go because all is
not lost. Yes, it is not according to the
law because you have not been invited. Yes, you have not been
for 30 days, but to whomsoever the king shall hold out the golden
scepter, that he may live. Those people may approach when
he holds out the scepter. So there is an element, a glimmer
of hope. Perhaps, perhaps he'll hold out
the scepter. Perhaps he'll welcome you. Who
knows? But if you do not go, we will
never know. There is hope. You are the only hope. And there
is hope that the King will receive you. And behind Esther, behind
her as she goes forward, are the prayers and the fasting and
the support of all the people, Mordecai and others, who she
commanded to fast. And I'm sure prayer was included
in that fasting. So she has behind her this support
of others who are supplicating God on her behalf. And so she
goes in to the king because she has to go. So this evening, we may have
many reasons in our hearts and minds why we're thinking we cannot
pray. Or we do not feel to be in the
right frame to pray. Or do not feel worthy and welcome
to pray. But we must pray. We must pray
because we need to pray. Like Esther needed to come to
the king to be alive and to survive, we need to pray because we need
him. So much more than Esther needed
the king of Persia. We need the king of kings. If
we're a believer here this evening, we need him for our very souls,
life, and liveliness. We belong to him and, I hope,
we long for him. Because we know that in his absence
we become cold and dead. We long for his blessing, for
his presence, because a spiritually alive soul needs him and desires
his blessing. And all of us here need him.
We need his mercy. And if we do not come in unto
the King, Then, as Mordecai told Esther, that her and her household
would perish. And if we do not come into the
king any time during our life, we will perish. We need to pray. We must pray. We must seek the
Lord because all of us need mercy. And prayer is the way in which
mercy is sought. And we come humbly and simply
and ask from our heart that God would save us. That is the way
of mercy, prayer. It is a great blessing to pray.
It is a great blessing to be in his presence. It is a great
blessing to believe that God has heard us and in his way and
time will answer us. It is a great blessing to pour
out our souls and to enjoy his presence and yet for some reason
we neglect this blessing. So we must come because we need
to. But we must also come because we have the encouragement that
he does answer prayer. The Queen didn't know what the
King would be able to do. She hadn't worked out a plan
and written a law and just asked him to sign on the line at the
bottom. But yet the King was able to issue a decree in the
end which did save the Jewish people. But our King of Kings,
he is able to answer prayer. He is able to do great things.
So we do not come without hope. We do not come and speak into
the wind. We do not come and say words because it makes us
feel better. We come to a King because he
is able to answer us and do great things on our behalf. And then
finally we come because he has invited us to come. The queen
didn't know if that golden scepter would be held out. As she entered
into the inner court in her royal apparel that day, and there he
was on his throne, and there he was in his kingly splendor,
and she didn't know if that scepter would be held out or not. She
ventures forward, praying, hoping that it would be held out to
her. She didn't know, but we have a king. We have a king who,
before we pray, has held out the golden scepter. who before
we utter one word this evening has held out his hand of grace
and invites us to come. It's already held out to his
venturing people. And therefore we are encouraged
to pray because we must, because we are blessed in doing so, because
he answers prayer and because he loves to hear us pray. So Esther went in unto the king. And the king held out to Esther
the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther drew near
and touched the golden scepter. So by faith tonight, may we all
draw near and touch that scepter. Amen.