Esther chapter eight, and we'll read from verse one. On that day, that was the day
in which Haman was hanged, on that day did the king Ahasuerus
give the house of Haman, the Jew's enemy, unto Esther, the
queen. And Mordecai came before the
king, for Esther had told what he was unto her. And the king
took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it
unto Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over
the house of Haman. And Esther spake yet again before
the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears
to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that
he had devised against the Jews. Then the king held out the golden
scepter toward Esther. So Esther arose and stood before
the king. and said, if it please the king,
and if I have found favour in his sight, and the things seem
right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it
be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman, the son of
Hamadatha, the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews
which are in all the king's provinces. For how can I endure to see the
evil that shall come on my people? Or how can I endure to see the
destruction of my kindred? Then the king Ahasuerus said
unto Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have
given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon
the gallows, because he laid his hand upon the Jews. Write
ye also for the Jews as it liketh you, in the king's name, and
seal it with the king's ring. For the writing which is written
in the king's name and sealed with the king's ring may no man
reverse. Then were the king's scribes
called at that time in the third month, that is the month Sivan,
on the three and twentieth day thereof, and it was written according
to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants
and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from
India unto Ethiopia, and hundred, twenty, and seven provinces,
unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto
every people after their language, and to the Jews according to
their writing, and according to their language. And he wrote
in the King Ahasuerus' name and sealed it with the king's ring
and sent letters by posts on horseback and riders on mules,
camels and young dromedaries. wherein the king granted the
Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together,
and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause
to perish all the power of the people and province that would
assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil
of them for a prey. upon one day in all the provinces
of King Ahasuerus, namely upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth
month, which is the month Adar. The copy of the writing for a
commandment to be given in every province was published unto all
people, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to
avenge themselves on their enemies. So the posts that rode upon mules
and camels went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king's
commandment. And the decree was given at Shushan,
the palace. And Mordecai went out from the
presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white and
with a great crown of gold and with a garment of fine linen
and purple. And the city of Shushan rejoiced
and was glad. The Jews had light and gladness
and joy and honour. And in every province and in
every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree
came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the
land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them. Now
in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar on the thirteenth
day of the same when the king's commandment and his decree drew
near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of
the Jews hoped to have power over them, though it was turned
to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated
them, the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout
all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hand on such as sought
their heart. and no man could withstand them,
for the fear of them fell upon all people. And all the rulers
of the provinces and the lieutenants and the deputies and officers
of the king helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai
fell upon them. For Mordecai was great in the
king's house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces,
for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater. Thus the Jews smote
all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter and
destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them. And in Shushan the palace the
Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men, and Parshandatha,
and Dalfon, and Aspatha, and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aradai, and Vajazatha, the ten
sons of Haman, the son of Hamadatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they. But on the spoil laid they not
their hand. On that day the number of those
that were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the
king. The king said unto Esther the
queen, the Jews have slain and destroyed 500 men in Shushan,
the palace, and the 10 sons of Haman. What have they done in
the rest of the king's provinces? Now what is thy petition? And
it shall be granted thee. Or what is thy request further?
And it shall be done. Then said Esther, if it please
the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan
to do tomorrow also according unto this day's decree, and let
Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows. And the king commanded
it so to be done, and the decree was given at Shushan, and they
hanged Haman's ten sons. For the Jews that were in Shushan
gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of
the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan. But on
the prey they laid not their hand. But the other Jews that
were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together
and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies,
and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand. but they laid
not their hands on the prey. On the 13th day of the month
Adar and on the 14th day of the same rested they and made it
a day of feasting and gladness. But the Jews that were at Shushan
assembled together on the 13th day thereof and on the 14th thereof
and on the 15th day of the same they rested and made it a day
of feasting and gladness. Therefore the Jews of the villages
that dwelt in the unwalled towns made the fourteenth day of the
month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day,
and of sending portions one to another. And Mordecai wrote these
things and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all
the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far. to establish
this among them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the
month Adar and the fifteenth day of the same yearly. And the days wherein the Jews
rested from their enemies and the month which was turned unto
them from sorrow to joy and from mourning into a good day, that
they should make them days of feasting and joy and of sending
portions one to another and gifts to the poor. And the Jews undertook
to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto
them. Because Haman the son of Hamadatha the Agagite, the enemy
of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them
and had cast purr, that is, the lot, to consume them and to destroy
them. But when Esther came before the
king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which
he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head,
and that he and his son should be hanged on the gallows. Wherefore
they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur. Therefore,
for all the words of this letter and of that which they had seen
concerning this matter and which had come unto them, the Jews
ordained and took upon them and upon their seat and upon all
such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fall
fail, sorry, so that it should not fail that they would keep
these two days according to their writing and according to their
appointment, appointed time every year and that these days should
be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family,
every province and every city and that these days of Purim
should not fail from among the Jews nor the memorial of them
perish from their seed. Then Esther the Queen, the daughter
of Abihel, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority to confirm
this second letter of Purim. And he sent the letters unto
all the Jews to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus,
with words of peace and truth, to confirm these days of Purim,
in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther
the Queen had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves
and for their seed the matters of the fastings and their cry. And the decree of Esther confirmed
these matters of Purim, and it was written in the book. And
the king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land and upon the isles
of the sea, and all the acts of his power and of his might,
and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, whereunto the king
advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles
of the kings of Media and Persia? For Mordecai the Jew was next
unto King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted
of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people,
and speaking peace to all his seed. Amen. May God be pleased
to bless this reading from his word. Psalm 118 and verse 24 tells
us, this is the day that the Lord hath made. We will rejoice
and be glad in it. And we know that when it says,
this is the day that the Lord hath made, it's talking about
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the day that the Lord
Jesus Christ hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. Because John chapter one and verse three says that all
things were made by him. So if all things were made by
the Lord Jesus Christ, then the Lord has made this day. Without him was not anything
made that was made. This day, this day and every
day is the express handiwork of the Lord Jesus Christ, our
King and our Saviour. The sun rises at his behest. The day dawns as he ordains. The world breathes at his permission
and nobody draws a breath without it. He upholds all things by
the word of his power. That, I think, is what we should
take from this enduring witness of the Book of Esther. that God,
our God, is in control, that the Lord Jesus Christ is in charge
of every minutiae, every detail, the smallest thing which makes
this world operate, which causes this world to move in its path
and the sun to shine upon it in the vastness of the immensity
which is this universe. is upheld and controlled by that
One who is our Lover, our Friend, our Elder Brother, our King,
our Lord and our Saviour. This is His day. And upon this day, the Lord our
God had decreed from all eternity that Haman, the enemy of the
Jews, would die. Every tiny, incidental, contributing
factor leading up to that moment was ordained by the Lord Jesus
Christ. How do we know? because the father
had ordained and prepared a body for his son, because God had
promised that a saviour would be born, that the lineage by
which the Lord Jesus Christ, the genealogy through which he
would come, had been expressly stated, the pattern had been
set, the way and accomplishments of these things would be certain
and would be fulfilled. He had a kingdom to inherit and
nothing and certainly not an evil man like Haman was going
to stand in the way of the purposes of God. At the appointed time,
that one, that evil man would be simply taken out of the picture
and removed from this scene of time. Haman could never have
succeeded in his diabolical scheme. Upon this day that the Lord hath
made, our Lord and Saviour decreed from all eternity that Mordecai
would be promoted and would prosper. The Lord raised up Ahasuerus
in order to raise up Mordecai. And Daniel chapter two tells
us, he, our Lord, changes the times and the seasons. He removes
kings and he sets kings up. For kings, you can read presidents
or prime ministers or bosses or tutors. He removes them and
he sets them up for your good, to accomplish his purpose for
the well-being of his church and people. But what we read in our narrative
today, in these chapters in the book of Esther, is that Haman's
legacy, though Haman is dead, remains enacted as the law of
the Medes and the Persians. That law had been distributed
through 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia. And the law said that every Jew
was to be killed in a mass extermination on a certain day of the year. We might call that the Persian
Holocaust. That law could not be rescinded
or altered. Such was the implacable nature
of the enemy's of the Jews and of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
what we find in our narrative is that what was promised to
be a day of destruction proved to be a day of deliverance. And Esther again goes before
the King Ahasuerus. And again, the scepter is extended,
showing that she is accepted in the King's presence. And I
think there's some good thoughts here. Because though Esther was
safe, though her enemy had been slain, her enemy was dead, her
own personal family now secure, yet her ongoing concern was for
her people. The victory was won in the sense
that the enemy was gone. But now that success had to be
followed through. There were implications and consequences. The Lord Jesus Christ also has
won a battle for his people. He has laid low our enemy. He has defeated that strong man. He has entered the strong man's
house and he has led that strong man captive. He's made a display
of him. And we rightly, we rightly emphasize
the words of the Lord upon the cross when he says, it is finished. And yet, do we not love to witness
the continuing involvement of our Savior in the ongoing care
and concern of his people? The Lord Jesus Christ did not
simply sit down in heaven with nothing else to do. He still
intercedes. He still watches over his people. He still protects us and preserves
us and sustains us. He has the victory. He won the
fight. He won the battle there upon
the cross. All power was granted to him. but never once to take his eye
off the church and people that he loves. This is our God. This is his day. This is the
day that the Lord has made, and that ever-loving eye is upon
his church and people. The day that the Lord died, our
enemy was defeated. That day Satan was overthrown. And in a few minutes, we're going
to remember that day. We're going to remember the Lord's
death as we come together to share around the Lord's table.
This is a victory meal. Just in the same way as the Jews
in the day of Mordecai and Esther, they celebrated the victory that
their deliverer had secured for them. And I think that there's a beautiful
symmetry here in the narrative, because Satan is defeated, but
the effect of his poison endures in the world. Haman was defeated. He was dead and he was gone,
but that decree was already out there. That decree was already
in the world in those 127 provinces. The enemies of the Jews were
already arming themselves, building up their weaponry in order to
take hold of the property of the Jews and to slay them as
a people, to exterminate them. Haman's wickedness still coursed. through the Persian society. And fear still stalks the people
of God in this world. The people in the provinces did
not know that Haman was dead. They did not know that there
was a new power in the court. They did not know that Esther's
representations had succeeded. They did not know that the victory
had been won and they had to wait. Do you know how long they
had to wait until that second letter went out to them? Two
months. Two months they thought that
their lives and the lives of their children were forfeit.
For two months they lived believing that in a short while their neighbours
to the left and to the right, their enemies from the next village
would be coming and taking their lives. How do you live with that? When we consider the fact that
our enemy is defeated, we know that we still have to face the
challenges of life here in this world. The Lord has won the victory, but how much prayer had to go
up to him during that time from people who didn't know and didn't
experience the effects of that victory in the time that they
had to wait. And I think that we can take
a parallel there from the way in which the Lord leads us as
his people through this world of difficulties, because he leads
us Because of our ignorance of the things that he has accomplished,
he leads us with an increasing need to depend upon him. so that
he will wean us from self-reliance, so that he will teach us to trust
in him, so that he will show us that our strength is not in
ourselves but in him, and thereby prove that our trials are a blessing
to us. And I wonder if there's a picture
here too of the conversion of a sinner to grace. Free will and free will teaching
has so entered our psyche and our ways of thinking that invariably
we have this notion that all a person has to do is to believe
and they're saved, to believe and they've got life and they've
got assurance and they've got a sense of the Lord's goodness
and mercy to them. And the free will preacher will
say, all you have to do is believe and you've got salvation. But
I suspect that amongst the Lord's true people, I suspect that amongst
the elect of God, in the experience of many, the pathway to assurance
is hard and it is doubt strewn. We make a journey in this life.
And yes, we can see that there are many who've got this idea
and this notion that it's all right with me. I've got my faith. I've got my belief. I've trusted
in the Lord. But I find that when we move
amongst those whom we have good hope for, that they are the true
believers in Christ, that often they are downcast and often they
are weary and often they are full of doubt and self-examination. Isaiah 55 verse six says, seek
ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Why? Because sometimes you're
going to have to wait. You have to seek him. You have
to call upon him and you have to do that repeatedly. But he's worth waiting for. If
the bridegroom will tarry, if there is a delay between the
feeling of our need and the fulfilment of our blessing, then let us
take that wait, and let us look to the Lord as we wait, and let
us be wise and watching for His help. In Psalm 33, verse 20,
we read, Our soul waiteth for the Lord, He is our help and
He is our shield. The day of blessing will come. Verse 16 speaks of it as a day
of light and gladness, joy and honour. That day will come. It took a while to come. The
truth of the matter was Haman was long dead. But yet, before
the communication of the fullness of the reality of the situation
could be experienced by those who benefited, there had to be
a wait. They had to wait upon the Lord.
And how many prayers for their deliverance went up to them when
they didn't even know that back in Xushan, the palace, that deliverance
had already been effected. Day of blessing is coming for
the Church of Christ. But there is also a day of retribution. And here we see the Jews defending
themselves against their enemies. You know, it's hard for us to
imagine. Well, maybe it's not, but let
me just make that point. It's hard for us to imagine physical
violence against us. We've never lived in a society
where people have kicked in the doors of our churches or our
houses and acted violently against us because of the faith that
we have. That's one of the benefits of
living in this Western civilization. But you don't have to travel
too far to where professing to be a Christian puts you in a
minority and puts you in danger and your wives and your children
in danger. And it wasn't always the case
either in some of these other countries, because as we were
thinking last week, there are those who have endeavoured to
stand for the truth, who have paid with their blood and their
lives for the faith that they professed. And there are many today in other
parts of the world who still face violence. because of the
Lord Jesus Christ and their trust in him. The church must battle
in this world. That's the nature of the faith. And whether that battle is external
or internal, it will be our lot. And maybe they won't be hitting
us with sticks or shooting us with bullets, but we will still
have to face the battle in our own hearts and in our own lives.
and it may come in more subtle forms. The devil is subtle and
he will attack us and he will bring hard times, troubled times. barren times, times of emptiness,
times of frustration into our lives. And that battle is as
real in a believer's life internally as it might be externally. The people in the Persian Empire
feared their enemies were going to come against them with swords
and spears. We have to fear that the enemies
of the faith, the enemies of the church, will bring their
antagonism against us in different ways, perhaps more subtly. And if you are the Lords, I believe
that even now, You are going through trials in your lives. If you are the Lord's, it's the
stock and trade of the Lord's people thus to feel the challenges
of the devil, of the world, of the flesh against us in our soul. What did the Jews do in their
situation? We're told that they gathered
together. That was smart. That was wise. We're told that
the Lord provided for them tools and helps, and he still does
for his church and his people wherever they may be. That gathering
together may be equated to our fellowship. The tools that he
provided for the Jews in their day is the ministry of the word
and the gospel of Jesus Christ because these are the tools that
we employ against those spiritual wickednesses in high places. We don't go onto a battlefield
any longer and fight with armaments, but we still have to be prepared
with spiritual weapons and to have these weapons provided to
us by the grace of God, for our fight is real. The Jews enjoyed
a day of rest and thanksgiving. They celebrated, they expressed
their gratitude to God for the deliverance that was to come. Who would have imagined that
the beginning of our story that the Jews would spend the 14th
and the 15th day of the 12th month having a party. They were all supposed to be
dead on the 13th day of the month. You know that the Jews still
celebrate this Feast of Purim, they still have this feast and
they all get together and they give the religious ones, they
get together and they give gifts and they speak highly. I think
I mentioned to somebody just how highly the Jews value this
book. In my preparation, I read that
the view is that when the Messiah comes, that the prophetic books
will be done away with and that the only books of the Bible that
will remain for the Jews anticipating their Messiah, we of course know
that it's the Lord Jesus Christ and he's already come, but in
their own religious orthodoxy, they imagine that only the first
five books, the books of Moses and the book of Esther, will
continue in their canon. And so they highly valued the
book of Esther and they still do. But we have a celebration to
make when we see the deliverance that our Saviour has made for
us. The Lord has given us, he's given us a day per week to remember
him, to praise, to worship, to thank. Not the historical event,
but a living relationship that we have with God through the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'm not saying that we need
to neglect the social festivals that go on in the sense of Christmas
when we remember the birth of Christ, or Easter when death
is remembered, or Thanksgiving when we give thanks to God for
the liberties that we enjoy. By all means, celebrate these
social holidays in our society. But the believers' worship is
more than that. It's not even the weekly worship
when we come together on the Lord's Day. It's a daily worship. It's an hourly worship. It's
a moment-by-moment relationship. It's the knowledge that we have
a betrothed, that we have a lover, that we have someone who befriends
us, someone who is with us, someone who goes with us into every experience
of life, into every situation that we live. Psalm 126, verse 1 says, it's
a song of degrees. When the Lord turned again the
captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our
mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. Then
said they among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things
for them. The Lord hath done great things
for us. whereof we are glad. And that is the testimony of
the Lord's people. The Lord has done great things
for us, whereof we are glad. I was struck in reading these
end chapters of the book of Esther at the repetition of the phrase,
a good day. I don't know whether you noticed
it as we were reading. They had a good day. The Jews
had a good day. And it's repeated, I think, three
times here. Much of the Book of Esther centers
around that particular day of the 13th, the 13th day of the
12th month. That was the date that Haman
had settled on when he threw the lot or the dice, whatever
it was that they used in order to select the day when the Jews
would be slain. And yet even in throwing the
dice, the Lord's purpose and the Lord's will was assured for
the well-being of his people. We say the prayer, don't we?
Frequently, thy will be done on earth. What do you consider to be a
good day? What do you consider to be a
good day? One of the songwriters that I
used to listen to said, a good day is when it doesn't rain. What do you consider being a
good day? Is it when something pleasant happens to you? Is that
a good day? Or maybe it's a good day if something
unpleasant doesn't happen to you. It was a good day when the Lord
Jesus Christ died for us. It was a good day when the Holy
Spirit quickened our souls. It was a good day when the gospel
was preached to our hearts and we were given faith to believe
it. It was a good day when the Lord
Jesus Christ came to us as our personal saviour. And it will
be a good day when he takes us to be with him. It's rather contrary
to what most people would think, but Ecclesiastes chapter seven,
verse one says, the day of death is better than the day of one's
birth. And John in the book of Revelation
says, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. But rather we think that today
is a good day. Today is a good day because Paul
speaks of today. He is speaking of now when he
says that this is the day of the Lord Jesus. This is the day
that is created, that is made, that is arranged, that is organized,
in which every single element and minute detail has been set
in place by the Lord Jesus Christ who made it. This is the day
of our saviour. This is the day of our friend.
This is the day of our sovereign king. This is the day that the
Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in
it. Amen.