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South Bay SDA Church

Esther

Jeremy Arnall

Behind The Scenes

Coincidence Or Providence

For Such A Time As This

Footsteps of Faith

Out of the Ordinary

Joy in the Promise

A Divine Reversal

It's been said that Christians without goals, you could say purpose, are like Alice in the fairy tale Alice in Wonderland, in which in a conversation between her and the Cheshire cat, Alice asked, would you tell me please which way I ought to go from here?

Well, the cat replied, that depends a good deal on where you want to get to.

You know, COVID had its way with us as a nation, as a world, of course.

There was great loss, there was great suffering.

But as a culture, as a people, it had its interesting, sometimes unintended consequences, didn't it?

I was talking to a friend the other day, last weekend, and I inquired about a friend that we both shared.

And they said, you know, since COVID, I don't see him at church much anymore.

The dynamics of church, of the way we do business, work, it's all been greatly impacted, hasn't it?

And I guess in some ways, there's been some good that's perhaps come, but there's also been a lot of unfortunate consequences.

You would have thought that COVID would have helped us to regroup and solidify our purpose, right?

Well, We had plenty of time to think, didn't we?

This morning I want to talk to you about our purpose, your purpose, and why you exist at such a time as this.

There are a lot of distractions, I'll grant you, many distractions.

It's been said that when you're up to your neck in alligators, it's difficult to keep your mind on the fact that your primary objective is to drain the swamp.

We have many things coming our way, many things to distract us, many things to capture our attention.

But we have been placed here for such a time as this for a very specific purpose as a people.

And while we can chase rabbits all day, we must return and keep the main thing the main thing.

I'll share with you this quote from George Bernard Shaw.

He said the following, this is the true joy in life, that being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty 1.

You recognize yourself that this is a mighty purpose.

Then he says, the being thoroughly wore out before you are thrown on the scrap heap, and being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy." End quote.

Title of the message this morning, for such a time as this, Let us pray.

We recognize this place as a holy space dedicated to you.

Would you in turn make us holy with your presence?

We ask, Lord, that You will hide me, that You would wash and fill me, that I might be a vessel by which Your glory could pour forth.

Lord, we all collectively would like to sit at Your feet.

And we're in the series on Esther, the book, and our first look at Esther a few weeks ago, we took note of God's providence.

We looked at chapter 1, and while the seemingly secular story said nothing about God and focused primarily upon the glory of Persia, we noted that there was still something to learn about God in Esther, that His providence can be seen when we look behind the scenes.

Some argue that Esther is the primary character of this book.

We noted how chapter 1 illustrated the vanity of this world, that while Ahasuerus seemingly had, or Xerxes, his Greek name, seemingly had all the wealth and the pleasures of this world at his disposal.

And it goes into great detail there to explain what those riches looked like.

Something was lacking in his own marriage.

Take a ride down Beverly Hills and you'll see manicured homes, But inside you find troubled homes.

You see, while he could manage a kingdom, he couldn't manage his own home.

Thus, in an effort to gain control, to maintain control, he resorted to the laws and wisdom of man rather than the law and wisdom of God.

So he closed his doors to his wife, Faschtae, in humiliation while the rest encouraged it for fear that their wives would follow suit should she be allowed to behave like that.

And so, with the stage now set, we learn of 3 main characters, which we looked at last week.

First, Esther, the orphan girl, who, though Jewish, ended up as queen of Persia.

Mordecai, her cousin, who, though Jewish as well, ended up serving in leadership at the king's gate.

And Haman, who was made second in command and who expected reverence whenever he should pass by.

But though government dictated reverence for Haman, Mordecai refused to bow and amidst this testing moment, he finally reveals his heritage as a Jew to his colleagues at the gate.

But then, in a rather passing manner, the story is told.

The story is told how faithful Mordecai discovered a plot against the king and revealed it to Esther, who then revealed it to her husband, the king, and how Mordecai's name was recorded in the book of Chronicles in the presence of the king.

Thus we continue, don't we, to see God's Providence at work in this story.

And we're intrigued because while his name is not mentioned, while it seems to be a story about a wealthy egocentric king and a simple but beautiful queen, Jewish girl, orphan girl that becomes queen of Persia.

While it seems so beautiful and simple, almost something like you would go to the theater to see, reality, we realize that this is the way it is for us.

That we have to stop and be still and pause and listen and watch because if we will pause, even though there's so much secular entertainment and gadgetry and stuff to come and to grab our attention.

If we're still and if we listen, we can see God's workings behind the curtain.

And no, this story is here for such a time as this because it has in many ways the same secular look, but yet again, God is truly the main character.

I mean, we also noted last week of the apparent symbolism or the type, antitype idea that's presented already in this story.

For we have a king who destroyed Babylon, reminding us of our king who will 1 day finally eradicate Babylon.

We have a beautiful pure virgin named Esther, just as God has a beautiful pure virgin bride he calls his church.

She was an orphan and God refers to us as orphans when he said He would not leave us as orphans.

It says she found favor in the sight, in the king's sight just as we have found favor in God's sight.

It says that Mordecai was at the gate which is we noted last week as a place for judgment and thus we also live in a time of judgment for does the text not say the hour of his judgment has come.

We noted that Mordecai's name was written in the King's book and so it is that God's faithful have their names written in the King's book.

And even though we don't know at this point how the story will play out in Esther, we know that since Mordecai's name is written in the book, it must give hope to Mordecai.

So while we don't know how our story will end, we can take great comfort knowing that if we have been faithful to the King of glory, our names will also be recorded in the book of life about thus giving us confidence to face the day ahead.

We noted how when Mordecai refused to bow in reverence to Haman who had been made second in command, he agitated the wrath of Haman and thus through Mordecai's faithfulness, persecution ensued.

And thus we are told that we will see in the little company that keeps the Sabbath in the last days of Mordecai in the gate, meaning that we too will 1 day face a test of faith.

For a religious decree will be issued by the state, but those who are faithful to God's will will refuse to bow and thus a death decree will also be made against them like it was in Persia against the Jews.

For we reverence the law of God rather than the contradictory laws of men.

The characters have been established and our story leads us now to chapter 4.

Open your Bibles, will you, to Esther chapter 4 and let's let the saga unfold.

Esther chapter 4 I'll be reading from the New King James Version.

When Mordecai learned all that had happened, And by the way, was it Eric that gave the children's, the scripture?

You know, when I give the scripture to be in the bulletin, I don't always pay attention to who's reading the scripture.

And I gave a little lengthier 1 this week, and he stood up there like a preacher, amen?

When Mordecai, so let's start over, I got distracted.

When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes and went out into the midst of the city.

He went as far as the front of the king's gate, for no 1 might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth.

And in every province where the king's command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews with fasting, weeping, and wailing, and Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

So Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her, and the queen was deeply distressed.

Then she sent garments to clothe Mordecai and take his sackcloth away from him, but he would not accept them.

Then Esther called Hathak, 1 of the king's eunuchs whom he had appointed to attend her, and she gave him a command concerning Mordecai to learn what and why this was.

So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the city square and was in front of the king's gate.

And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him and the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries to destroy the Jews.

He also gave him a copy of the written decree for their destruction which was given at Shushan that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her.

And that he might command her to go to the king to make supplication to him and plead before him for her people.

So Hathak returned and told Esther the words of Mordecai.

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Series

Esther

For Such A Time As This

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

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