Would you join me tonight in
our continuing study of that wonderful Gospel according to
Esther? As we've already seen so far
in this book, we may not have the name of God mentioned in
this book, but we certainly do have Him in the activities of
this book. And as we mentioned when we first
started, some ways we see God through the lattice in this book.
He is behind the scenes. He is directing all things that
are taking place just as He has everywhere throughout all eternity. In the book of Esther, chapter
2, we'd like to start reading with verse 12 tonight, and we're
going to read down through verse 18, and then we're going to say
a few things, and then we hope to look at verses 19 and 20.
We've mentioned some of the things in this passage already. It tells
us here in the book of Esther, chapter 2, verse 12, in the providence
of God, It says, Now when every maid's turn was come to go into
King Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according
to the manner of women, for so were the days of their purification
accomplished. To wit, six months with oils
of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors, and with other things
for the purifying of women. Then thus came every maiden unto
the king. Whatsoever she desired was given
her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king's
house. In the evening she went, and
on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women,
to the custody of Shashgaz, the king's chamberlain, which kept
the concubines. She came in unto the king no
more, except the king delighted in her, and that she were called
by name. Now, when the turn of Esther,
the daughter of Abahail, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken
her for his daughter, was come to go into the king, she required
nothing but what Hege, the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the
women, appointed. And Esther obtained favor in
the sight of all them that looked upon her. So Esther was taken
unto King Ahasuerus into his house royal, his house royal
in the 10th month, which is the 10th month Tebeth in the seventh
year of his reign. And the king loved Esther above
all the women. And she obtained grace and favor
in his sight more than all the virgins. so that he set the royal
crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. Then the king made a great feast
unto all his princes and his servants, even Esther's feast,
and he made a release to the provinces and gave gifts according
to the state of the king. And when the virgins were gathered
together the second time, then Mordecai set in the king's gate.
All right, let's look at just briefly at some of the things
that we find in this passage of scripture that when Esther
was brought before the king, that it tells us that when it
was Esther's turn, that She was the daughter, it tells us there
in verse 15, we find out her father's name in verse 15, and
before this we just have been shared that her father and mother
were both dead. When the turn of Esther, the
daughter of Abahel, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her
for his daughter, was come to go into the king, she required
nothing. Now there's several things in
there that we want to look at. In the past, I've drawn arrows
all over my pages so that remind me to come back to it. Well,
this time I was going through this and I just said, well, there's
something in verse 15 that I didn't cover here. So I'm going to finish
up with that passage. Verse 15 in the end, we must
say here that we cannot and we shall not judge the heathen court
of Persia by our standard of morality. And we've mentioned
in the past that these women, where most of them were felt
very elevated when they were brought before King Hajuaraz,
and they were virtually married to him. They had their health
care taken care of. They had their physical needs
taken care of. They were part of the court.
They had a great deal of a position that they did not by natural
birth. And most of them that we read about were very happy
to be in that position. We want to see here, instead
of that, we want to see here how God rules and overrules. That's what we want to see in
this passage of Scripture. And that He's going to accomplish
His purposes and there is nothing extra of what God, other than
what God has provided. Now, God is going to accomplish
His purpose. He is going to do it. And we've
mentioned in the past several times that the Apostle Paul picked
up on this point when he's talking about grace. And he headed off
what is commonly brought up by people who don't know grace,
when he starts talking about grace, when they said, if we
believe that, we would go do this. And Paul said, before anybody
could say anything, he said, shall we sin that grace may abound? And the Apostle Paul said, absolutely
not. That is not part of it. If a
person is saved by grace, they'll know something that we're not
going to go out just to sin so that grace could be more greater
to us. Grace is greater than all our
sin. He's taking care of it. But that
never gave anybody. And to have someone say that
really reveals what they have in their heart. They don't know
the first thing about grace to begin with. So this is God's
purpose. He is working all things according
to the eternal purpose of His grace. He has carried it out
according to His eternal purpose. And we look at it today and say,
God does all things well. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. It does not share with us in
the text, how did Mordecai know to put his niece, or excuse me,
cousin, daughter, slash daughter, into this. Now, I was thinking
about that. We don't have much information
about it, but we do have other people that were in the scriptures
that were given a stirring. I just today read a passage of
scripture to a young man, Ezra chapter one, verse one about
Cyrus. The Lord stirred him. Well, if he stirs pagan kings,
he certainly can stir his people to do what he wants them to do.
In some way, he revealed what needed to be done to Mordecai. And Mordecai encouraged his cousin
daughter to do this. And whether God gave him the
ability to see the need ahead of time or whatever it was, we
find that Mordecai was given some information about this.
Now, some commentaries share with us how terrible it was for
Mordecai to do this, to have even insinuate that his cousin
daughter should be married to a pagan king, which was totally
against the law of Moses. Well, we're just going to have
to deal with that as the Lord dealt with his disciples when
they harvested out grain, when they ate with unwashed hands. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. He is the Lord of his word and
he does according to his eternal purpose. We can see that Mordecai
was moved to encourage is. cousin, daughter to do this.
And then we find out that God worked everything out. We see
in that verse 15 that Esther did not require anything. Now,
one commentary said that those ladies that were put into that
position could ask for robes, they could ask for extra clothing,
they could ask for extra jewelry. The sky was in some ways the
limit to this person who was going to become married to the
king, King Ahasuerus. But we find that with Esther,
she didn't ask for anything else. She was trusting what she had.
She was trusting what God had given to her, and she was not
going to need anything else to encourage King Ahasuerus one
way or the other. That's just the way it's going
to be. Esther did not require anything but was appointed, and
we find, in fact, that she was probably constrained to do what
she did. more than appointed to do what
she did. She was constrained to do what
she did. Once Mordecai brought this up,
we find her completely given over to what her father-cousin
said to do. In fact, to the point of not
bringing up who her relationship was to Abraham. Let's just keep
this out of the mix right now. Let's do this. I'll never forget
Brother Henry after the Lord saved me and I was visiting with
him. He says, you know, Norm, our jobs are not our private
pulpits. People pay us so much to do our
job, and they're not paying us to preach to them. If the opportunity
arises, then they ask the question. That's another thing. Well, I
find that clearly given to us here in this passage of Scripture.
Nothing was said that she was related to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. Nothing was said that she was
a Jew. Now, this is going to play out
for the purpose that God had intended to begin with, but that
is what had happened. Now, in verse 16, Esther was
taken to King Ahasuerus into his house royal in the 10th month,
which is the 10th, is the month Tebeth in the seventh year of
his reign. Now back up, if you would, to
Esther chapter two and verse 16, I think, oh, no, excuse me,
Esther chapter one, Esther chapter one. In Esther chapter one, and
there in verse three, we find that in the third year of his
reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants,
the power of Persian media, the nobles and princes of the provinces
being before him. This is in the third year of
his reign, four years later, we have brought before King Ahasuerus. Now we have to take into consideration
the time that it got to get the word out to all the provinces.
There were posts sent. There were people who were given
a letter sent. Just like we find in the providence
of God, he sends out his minister, he sends out his missionary,
and by the providence of God, if one is saved, hallelujah.
If two are saved, we simply fall down. But that's the way God
does his business. So he sent those posts out to
cover all those 127 provinces. And then there were these young
ladies selected out of all those provinces. They were brought
down to Shushan the palace. They spent their year in purification
before they went in unto the king. So now from the third year
we have here in this passage of scripture and if you'll notice
with me in Esther chapter 2 in verse 16 this brings us up to
date and Esther was taken in the 10th month of the 7th year
of his reign. Queen Vashti has been off the
throne for four plus years. There's been great waiting in
Shushan the palace about who's going to be the next queen. And
here we have, as we travel in, in verse 17. The culmination
of these four years is fulfilled in one selected lady by the name
of Esther. Now, we have the name of this
book given by her, but we're going to find out as we travel
through this book that she, like we, are often just the actors
that go along with this And God is the great director, and we're
going to find out that Mordecai is the one that is truly a representative
for us of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The king loved
Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favor
in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal
crown upon her head. When I first read this and went
over it, it just chills up and down my spine to think of what
took place in this one verse of Scripture. That she was given
great favor by the king. She was given the crown by the
king. She was given the position by
the king. And we find that she was loved more than all the other
women by the king. Now, this whole scenario speaks
of Christ and His bride. You know, there's something about
the Bride of Christ there. One of the things that we find
out about the Bride of Christ is that every one of us are sinners. without exception. There's not
a person in the bride of Christ that's not a sinner. Turn with
me, if you would, to the book of Mark, chapter 2. This is the
bride. Now, Esther, if we visited with
her, she'd say the same thing. I'm just a sinner saved by grace.
Mordecai, I would say the same thing. I'm just a sinner saved
by grace. I was put into the position to
do what happened by Almighty God. He moved in me to accomplish
His eternal purpose, just like He moves in every one of His
people to accomplish His eternal purpose. In the book of Mark,
chapter 2, we have these words, and it's so plain through the
Scriptures. And the Lord brings this up several
times during His own ministry when He was meeting people that
didn't have the idea they were sinners. Now today I was discussing
over in the Old Testament is the only places that you find
the word free will. Old Testament. Several times. And it is always connected with
free will offering. Leviticus, Numbers, Ezra, I think
it's in Joshua and a couple of the Kings, but it's always connected
with that. And we find that those people
that offered free will offerings were a type and a picture of
the church. They're the only ones that recognize
the fact that they need a sin offering. In the Old Testament,
they were the only ones that brought the sacrifices. And I
shared with this young man, I said, I don't think there were very
many of these offerings made. I don't think the high priest
was wore out on a daily basis by people coming and saying,
I'm confessing my sin and I need to have the sacrifice and go
through this process. Now, they had their daily sacrifices,
but it doesn't seem that there was many, because we don't find
many sinners in Scripture. Out of the whole, there was not
many. There was eight sinners that
got in the ark. Now, I don't know if anybody
else ever considered the fact that they were sinners, but we
know that. Now, some of those we wonder
about that God brought along in that ark. Well, here in the
book of Mark chapter two and verse 17, and when Jesus heard
it, he said unto them, Notice here in verse 16, and when the
scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners,
they said unto his disciples, how is it that he eateth and
drinketh with publicans and sinners? Here we have those publicans,
or we have those Pharisees and scribes bringing up the same
thing that we saw on Sunday. They gather grain and harvest
it on the Sabbath. They eat with unwashing. All
of these really very terrible sins that they were committing.
And the Lord shares with us in the next verse, and when Jesus
heard it, he said unto them, they that are whole, now they
knew this, we don't find them going to a doctor unless they
needed it. They that are whole have no need of the physician,
but they that are sick, I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance. Now this is his ministry. He
came not to call the righteous, Now we're thankful that in his
eternal purpose of grace that he takes some of us who were
not sinners and convinces us otherwise. With the Pharisees, by and large,
he left them alone. There was one we have record
of, his name was Saul. He convinced him otherwise. And
Saul was able to admit as Esther was able to admit and Mordecai
was able to admit, O wretched man that I am. and the Lord Jesus,
His bride, is made up. And we've said this many times.
When we went through a little study about the cities of refuge,
you don't have to go up to anybody asking them why they're there.
We don't have to have our testimony of all the crimes that we committed
against the Lord brought out, because we know we're all sinners.
Well, we find this very thing. But, we also find out All of
the bride are the children of God. Everyone is a child of God. Now we find here that this bride
is a child of Abraham. Now we can say she's a child
of Abraham by birth, physical birth, but I am convinced that
she was a child of Abraham by spiritual birth. Just like we
find she also was a daughter of Abraham. He told the woman
that had an issue of blood, daughter. That's all we need to hear. He
had a very special place. Well, turn with me, if you would,
over to the book of James. The book of James, we go over
to the book of James, we find out that that woman that was
chosen by Ahasuerus, this Esther, he loved her more than all the
other women. Some people say that there was
probably a thousand women that were selected at this time. There's
no way of knowing. No way of knowing. But he had
lots of subwives. But he had one wife. And her
name is Esther. One. All right. Here in the book
of James chapter one. But a statement is made here
that God does for us. This is the work of God again,
just as we follow it in the book of Esther. It's the work of God.
Of His own will begat He us. Of His own will He gave us the name of children. He bears us
into the kingdom. It's a new birth that comes from
God. Of His own will begot He us with
the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His
creation, of His creatures. So, of His own will. So, everyone. Now, here, Esther is a child
of the Eternal King. We have, she has been born physically,
yes, by miracle, but she has been born the second time by
the grace of God. We also find that everyone, and
this Esther is a prime example of that, when Ahasuerus loved
her more than all the rest. Turn with me to the book of Romans
and we find that the church, everyone in the church is an
object of God's eternal love. In the book of Romans chapter
five, Romans chapter 5. What position the Lord has placed
His people in that they, being sinners, are made to be His child
from an eternal standpoint. He had eternally determined to
bear them to give them the new birth. And here in Romans chapter
5 and verse 8, we read these words about this grand subject
of what the bride is. But God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
So that, well, we go to the Old Testament, fulfilling the New
Testament, He has loved us with an everlasting love. And every
characteristic and every attribute of God is just exactly the same
length on the behalf of His people. He has loved us with an everlasting
love. And jump over to the book of Ephesians. In the book of
Ephesians chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 5, we read
these words. In Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
5 it says, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. By grace you are saved. What
a resurrection. What a resurrection. I heard
a man today on that other zoo, he said, I cannot tell you the
day I was saved, but I was raised from a spiritual dad. I recognized
him as my father. I recognized him as the one who
loved me with an everlasting love. So it's, I don't remember
the day I was physically born. I've got a piece of paper that
said where it was, when it was, how much I weighed and all of
that stuff. But when it comes to my remembrance of it, sorry.
And the same is true about God's people when it comes to their
deliverance from sin, their salvation, their new birth. We don't have
to remember the day, but I'll tell you things got different.
Things became different. All right? And then another thing,
we're going to find out that Esther, though she is the absolute
royal queen, She is a servant of Ahasuerus. She's a bondservant
of Ahasuerus. Turn with me if you would over
to the book of Philippians. She is going to be subject to
him when trouble is brewing and her people need deliverance. She is shared the information
by her father, her cousin. Maybe you've been brought to
this place for such a time as this. And she goes through, she
wrangles in her mind what she should do because she knew the
law. I am a bondservant to the king. If I step into his presence,
will that be enough? She's the queen. She has every
right, every privilege, owns lots of property, has a great
crown, has many ladies taking care of her. And yet when it
comes to the king, she's a bondservant to him. Turn with me here to
the book of Philippians chapter one and verse one. And we've
read this Paul and Timotheus, the servants. Now, if you look
up that word servant, it means bondservant or slave. It's a good thing. from our position. It's a good thing to be a bond
servant. It's the servant of Jesus Christ.
Slaves, literally made free from sin and become servants or slaves
of God. She was freed from all care and
yet in her being made The wife and the queen, she is brought
to a position that she is a bondservant to the king. And every believer
is a bondservant to the king. Every believer is a bondservant
of the Lord. We've been taken out of the position
of slavery, free from sin, but we've been made servants of the
Most High God. We are His slaves as well as
His children. Ye are not your own, you are
bought with a price. That's what we read over in the
book of 1 Thessalonians chapter 6 verses 19 and 20. We are bought
with a price. And over in the book of Acts,
would you turn there with me, in the book of Acts as we find
the same word, bond-server or bond-slave, in the book of Acts
chapter 4. The book of Acts chapter 4 verse
29. She had the same thing at Wedu
as is represented in her being married to King Ahasuerus. She
is the very most special. She is loved more than anyone
else. She is appointed at the time. She is made the queen. She has all the blessings, all
the food, all of everything that she could ever wish for are hers. And yet, when it comes down to
it, she's a bond servant to him. Out of love. Now, Lord, in Acts
chapter four, verse 29, now, Lord, behold their threatenings
and grant thy bondservants that with all boldness they may speak
thy word. Thy servants, thy bondservants,
thy slaves. And so we have this here. Now,
I want to go back to verse 15 because there's something here
that is so grand for us. in this book of Esther, chapter
two, verse 15. Now the word is not used here,
but the principle is used here, and it's brought out with such
clarity here in this verse of scripture. In the book of Esther,
chapter two, verse 15. Now notice with me here, it says,
now when the turn of Esther, now we have some description
of her. The daughter of Abihael, The uncle of Mordecai. Now her
father was the uncle of Mordecai. Who had, now notice this, who
had taken her for his daughter. Mordecai had taken her for his
daughter. Now they're already relatives.
They're already of the same family. But He does something that we
find is so necessary for us in our Christian life, and that
is adoption. He adopted her. Now, I used to
think that, and I still do about physical adoption, that's one
time that we get to actually choose who we want to have for
our children. When the Lord brings our children
into this world, we got them. But when we adopt somebody, we
have the choice in the matter. Do we want male or female? Where
do we want them from? And that's just the way it goes.
The part we have passed over needs to be re-looked at, and
that is that Esther is an adopted child. Esther was adopted by
Mona Kei. Now this principle is brought
up several times in the Old Testament, but the Holy Spirit led the Apostle
Paul in the New Testament to say some very important things
about adoption. And it is so meaningful, it is
as meaningful to us as it was to Esther in a physical sense.
And that is Esther was adopted because she was loved and cared
for and she was already in the family. When we look at this
relationship, we find that between Esther and Mordecai, yes, they
were cousins. They were cousins. They were
of the same family. And yet, Mordecai takes it one
step further and calls her his daughter. Now, whether you had
another family, the scriptures do not tell us. The Lord does
the same. All he adopts are already his
chosen family. He's not going to adopt anybody
that's not his family. There are already a relationship
here, but adoption means something very special when it comes to
the Lord. You remember Moses? Moses was
adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. And he broke that contract. Esther
was adopted by Mordecai. She became his adopted daughter. And you know what? It tells us
she did exactly what Mordecai asked her to do. Look with me
in verse 20 of this second chapter. Esther had not yet showed her
kindred nor her people. as Mordecai had charged her. For Esther did the commandment
of Mordecai, like as when she was brought up with him." I'm
his daughter. Why shouldn't I do what he wants
me to do? All right. We find that in the
New Testament, the subject is made so spiritual. It is a spiritual
blessing to be adopted. Now the Lord only adopts, the
Lord only adopts those that are already His family. In the book
of Romans chapter 9, turn with me to Romans chapter 9. In Romans
chapter 9 verse 4, Look at verse three with me.
For I could wish that myself were a curse from Christ for
my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites
to whom pertaineth the adoption. and the glory, and the covenants,
and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises.
Whose are the fathers, and whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ
came, who is overall God-blessed forever." The Apostle Paul brings
this subject up with regards to them from a physical standpoint,
and said, they had all of this. He treated them like his own
children. from a physical standpoint, but
He did not give them a heart to believe. And that's all the
difference. Alright? Turn with me to the book of Galatians
chapter 4. In the book of Galatians chapter
4. And there in verse 5. Verse 4 says, And when the fullness
of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that
we might receive the adoption of sons. There's an adoption
here that God has made with His people, with the church. And
finally, in the book of Ephesians, chapter 1 and verse 5. Ephesians
1 and verse 5. It tells us here, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will. Now, adoption as God's act is
an eternal act of his gracious love. For he foreordained us
unto adoption as children through Jesus Christ, just like we read
there in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 5. If we look at the prodigal son,
we find out, wouldn't it have been enough for the prodigal
son to go home and say, I'm not worthy to be a son, I'll just
be a servant. And the father said, you know,
that's probably a good idea. But the father didn't do that.
He took his son back and he gave his son great reward. It is if he had adopted him back
into the family. He's always been as a relationship.
It is an aspect, I'm going to read a quote here by someone
I thought really summed it up. It is an aspect of the same experience
that Paul describes elsewhere under another legal metaphor
as justification by faith. According to the latter, God
declares the sinner righteous and treats him as such. admits
to the experience of forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace. In
all this, the relation of father and son is undoubtedly involved,
but in adoption it is emphatically expressed. It is not only that
the prodigal son is welcomed home, glad to confess that he
is not worthy to be called a son, and willing to be made as one
of the hired servants, but he is embraced and restored to be
a son as before. The point of each metaphor is
that justification is an act of a merciful judge setting the
prisoner free, but adoption is the act of a generous father
taking his son to his bosom and endowing him with liberty, favor,
and heritage. Much blessings for the church
are in adoption. Yes, justification by faith sets
us free. We are made free from sin. But
God goes on and gives us that adoption that what he did for
the prodigal son, he could have stopped and just said, I forgive
you, you're going to go out and plow fields. But he didn't do
that because he has brought him back into the fold. He's a generous
father taking his son in his bosom and endowing him with liberty,
favor, and heritage. not just set free from sin, but
granted all the rich blessings of the adoption. For Esther did
not, did the commandment of Mordecai just like she did as a daughter. She's been adopted. She's not
his real daughter, but she obeyed him. She followed his word. She
did exactly what he encouraged her to do. And now we find that
she is the wife of the king. The Lord Jesus Christ in eternity
past wrote the names down of all those that he would deal
with in time, and when the right time came, he gave them every
spiritual blessing, and one of those is, I adopt you back into
the family, I reward you, I grant you favor, I grant you liberty,
and I have this heritage for you, and that is every spiritual
blessing. The benefits of adoption? Even
as great a position that Esther had, she had great respect for
Mordecai. We've been advanced to the heavenlies,
and we still respect the Lord of glory with great respect,
great gratitude. So, as we've come to this part
of the second chapter of the book of Esther. We find in our next reading there,
it tells us in the latter part of that, and I'll have you spend
a little time, if you will, on that. The book of Esther, chapter
2, and there in verses 21, In those
days, while Mordecai sat in the king's gate, He overheard something.