"The Banquet of Esther and Ahasuerus" by Jan Victors, c1640.
These are my notes on the 7th installment of Jamie Rasmussen's (the senior pastor of Scottsdale Bible Church) teachings on the Book of Esther.
In our last episode, as you recall, there was a lot of action going on behind the scenes between Esther's two banquets.
This episode finds us at Esther's second banquet and she drops the bomb that she is about to be killed and as a matter of fact, killed at the hand of Haman's edict.
King Ahasuerus becomes upset and instead has Haman hanged from the gallows that Haman had constructed to hang Mordecai. Queen Esther's second request is that her people, the Jewish nation, be spared the annihilation that Haman had put in place.
King Ahasuerus gives Esther Haman's estate and she in turn gives it to Mordecai. Then is a wild turn of events, King Ahasuerus gives Mordecai his signet ring (this puts Mordecai in a royal position of honor) and appoints him to prepare an edict to protect the Jews.
Fast horses run out into the kingdom proclaiming Mordecai's proclamation and the whole Jewish nation began to celebrate.
Wow...what an incredible turn of events! So how do we apply this story to our lives today?
Jamie Rasmussen points out that this is an incredible story of faithfulness. Faithfulness on the part of Esther and Mordecai.
Think about it. Here are the series of events thus far:
- The Jews are exiled and spread throughout a huge and foreign land.
- The Holy Temple has been destroyed and God seems very distant.
- In a wild turn of events, King Ahasuerus banishes his wife and marries a Hebrew girl by the name of Esther and makes her his queen.
- Esther's uncle, Mordecai, checks in with her every day at the King's gate to make sure that she is safe and sound.
- The King's second in command, Haman, has an edict put in place that all should bow before him.
- Mordecai refuses to bow (no other gods before Me) which upsets Haman to no end.
- Haman convinces the king to annihilate all of the Jews (over a million of them).
- Mordecai challenges Esther to act on behalf of her people.
- Esther, after three days of fasting on the part of the Jews, tells the king her story and confronts Haman.
- Haman is hung on the gallows that he had built to hang Mordecai on.
- Mordecai winds up with Haman's estate and become #2 in the land and write and edict, on behalf of the king protecting the Jews.
- A massive celebration ensues in the Jewish nation.
The pivotal part in this whole story is Esther's willingness to act. Esther is faithful. Faithfulness, Jamie taught us, is being true to one's words, beliefs and promises.
Key point #1 - faithfulness to God and His people is a high value in God's economy.
Key point #2 - faithfulness unleashes God's power and activity - it creates lots of "God room".
Just look at all the events that occur as a result of Esther's faithfulness:
- God provided justice - Haman was hanged.
- God provided honor - Esther received Haman's estate and Mordecai is promoted to second in command.
- God provided protection - the lives of the whole Jewish nation were sparred.
- God provided joy/gladness - the was great celebration in the land after these events.
- God provided evangelism - in a rare turn of events many people, in the land of Persia, were converting to Judaism because of all they had witness and saw the incredible blessings of Esther and Mordecai.
Galatians 6:9, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up".
So...how on earth do we become more faithful?
Key point #3 - We derive our faithfulness from God's faithfulness to us.
The key verses in this whole story are found in chapter 4:14-17:
"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 royal position for such a time as this?"
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 maids 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 mustered up a tremendous amount of courage. But...she found this courage through three days of fasting (time spent with God in prayer) mixed with a tremendous amount of trust (believing in God's providence).
There is certainly a lot of things in this text to meditate upon. How can I become more faithful to God? What other areas of my life might need more faithfulness?
If my whole family were facing annihilation, how would I respond? Would I trust God and approach him with faith and fasting?
What are your thought? Please feel free to comment in the comments section below.
Here is the link to Jamie's 30 minute message. Give it a listen!
