Esther Lesson 11: God’s Perfect Timing :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: March 24, 2021 by RR7

Chapter 6:1-14

“That night the king could not sleep. So, one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. 2 And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 3 Then the king said, ‘What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?’ And the king’s servants who attended him said, ‘Nothing has been done for him.’ 4 So the king said, ‘Who is in the court?’ Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. 5 The king’s servants said to him, ‘Haman is there, standing in the court.’ And the king said, ‘Let him come in.’ 6 So Haman came in, and the king asked him, ‘What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?’

“Now Haman thought in his heart, ‘Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?’ 7 And Haman answered the king, ‘For the man whom the king delights to honor, 8 let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its head. 9 Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. Then parade him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’ 10 Then the king said to Haman, ‘Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king’s gate! Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken.’

“11 So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’ 12 Afterward Mordecai went back to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered. 13 When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, ‘If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him but will surely fall before him.’ 14 While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs came, and hastened to bring Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.“

There is a song out right now by Toby Mac called “Help is on the Way.” One of the lines in the song is, “It may be midnight or midday, He’s never early and never late.” This is the testimony of how perfect God’s timing is; He is never early and never late. As we explore this passage here in Esther, we will see that God always has the upper hand, He is never caught off-guard, and He is always several plays ahead of any man and certainly ahead of Satan. God allows things to seemingly go unnoticed for His timing, for His glory, and for His purpose. If you recall, back in chapter 2:21-23, Mordecai found out that two of the king’s servants wanted to kill the king.

“In those days, while Mordecai sat within the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, doorkeepers, became furious and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. So the matter became known to Mordecai, who told Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai’s name. And when an inquiry was made into the matter, it was confirmed, and both were hanged on a gallows; and it was written in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.”

Mordecai told, and they were executed. The incident was recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Persia, much like we have the chronicles of the kings of Israel in the Bible. The king himself did not know about the incident personally; however, that was all about to change. Esther had made a move, Mordecai had prayed, and the Jews had fasted; God was about to show up and take on the enemy of Israel, Haman. Haman was about to experience the Lion of Judah in a way that he and the whole world would never forget.

Sleepless Nights, verses 1-4

God knows just when you need a sleepless night. He keeps you up and gets His point across. This was the case with Ahasuerus; he could not sleep this night before the banquet that Esther had proposed. He is pacing the room, and unlike our time where we have TVs and Netflix, the king had the book of the chronicles of Persia read. As the steward was reading, he comes to the event that includes Mordecai and how he had basically rescued the king from an assassination attempt, and the king is astonished that he did not know about it. He is further astonished that nothing had been done to honor Mordecai. This was a serious matter; Mordecai was to be honored for his actions.

It would appear that Haman has a sleepless night as well. He was in the palace, and the king summoned him to get his opinion. It is kind of cool that God did not allow the king to divulge who he was speaking about to Haman. Haman, in his pride, thought that there was no one in the kingdom save he that deserved to be honored, and he went big. He dug down into his bucket list and pulled out all that he wanted for honor. The Bible tells us that pride comes before a great fall (Proverbs 16:18). Many people caught up in pride have no clue that their end has come, and they are not able to see the ‘writing on the wall.’

Haman had no clue that he was about to be destroyed, but before he ever got there, God was going to turn up the heat on him by first making him honor the man he hated the most. I do not think that Haman was unaware of what Mordecai had done. After all, he was closer to the regular folks of the palace than the king.

Haman was filled with himself, and here is the question he asked in his head: “Now Haman thought in his heart, ‘Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?'” It was impossible for Haman to think that anyone other than himself could have deserved any kind of accolades. If it were me, I would want to wear the king’s robe, ride the king’s horse, and have the whole town cheer me on. Haman wanted to be king for a day. I cannot imagine the shock he felt when he was told to take Mordecai, his enemy, and do all these wonderful things to him. Oh, man, talk about your worst day ever!

Haman’s day was not getting off to a good start, and maybe someone not so full of pride may have seen the hints from God that this was not going to turn out your way. But Haman was blind. Pride makes you blind to God’s warning. Pride makes you think that you are above God and that He will never show up to call you out.

Haman’s reluctant obedience, verse 10-12

Haman would have honored anyone other than Mordecai. But he did what he was told and obeyed the king. He took Mordecai and gave him Haman’s dream day. Haman had to watch or maybe even help Mordecai put on the Royal robes, mount the Royal horse, wear the Royal crest, and be paraded in town for all to see and cheer on.

This must have been a waking nightmare for Haman. I cannot imagine how he must have felt thinking that Mordecai, this dirty Jew, was getting all the accolades that he, Haman, deserved. This was supposed to be his best day, and it turned out to be his worst so far. But God has more plans for him, plans that make this day look like a walk in the park. Soon a day would come that would make Haman long for this day. There is a title to a great sermon called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, preached in 1741 by Jonathan Edwards in the US. All too often, we forget that sin is hated by God. We the sinners are loved, but if we refuse God’s love and kindness, if we turn our minds and hearts away from His grace and mercy, then we are left with an angry God who hates sin, and we have to suffer the consequences.

Haman was not an idiot. He knew the history of the Jews, and he knew that no army, no nation, and no one had ever successfully eradicated the Jews. They thrived even in captivity and prospered in every nation they lived in. The same happens to this day in 2021. Haman knew that he was shaking his fist at the God of Israel, but he was too filled with pride to realize that he could not win. If you mess with the Jews, you are messing with God. Do not provoke God; you cannot win. Haman was about to find that out; sadly, his education would be at the University of The Hard Way.

In contrast, Mordecai was still in mourning, and he was reluctant as well in receiving the accolades. We are told that as soon as the ordeal was over, he went back to mourning. The issue at hand was more important than some swanky trip down the middle of town wearing clothes and riding a horse that he did not own. It was just pretend. Mordecai had the life of a nation to deal with, and he needed to be back praying and fasting for the safety of his people and asking God to help. Mordecai may not even have known that God was already working, that the situation with Haman and the parade was all a part of God’s plot, and ‘the game was afoot’ as Sherlock Holmes would say.

Others can see the end, verse 13-14

Remember, a few moments ago, I mentioned that pride blinds us to the dangers around us. Well, it would appear that everyone in Haman’s household understood what was happening. They could see the handwriting on the wall. His wife, upon finding out what happened and that Mordecai was a Jew, immediately drew the conclusion that Haman was in big trouble. They knew that he would not prevail against the Jews. These word from verse 13 must have haunted him all the way to the palace:

“When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, ‘If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him but will surely fall before him.'”

Let me say that this proclamation is just as true today. We need to be very careful when we elect political leaders regarding where they stand on the relationship with the nation of Israel.

The Abrahamic Covenant from Genesis 12:1-3

“Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'”

This covenant predates the Law, and it has not been ended by Jesus’ New Covenant. As well, if you take a look at Genesis 15, you will see that God makes a covenant with Himself to preserve and protect Israel. Abraham was asleep for the whole ceremony. God, Yahweh, is the protector of Israel. Over the centuries, God has allowed and, in fact, has used other nations to punish Israel. From the Philistines to the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and yes, even the Germans in the modern era were used by God, but they could not destroy the nation. They were only allowed to go so far in the matter of harming Israel. Haman was not even going to get there. He was going to be squashed like a flea, and God would bring great victory.

That trip to the palace would have gone by quickly, and he reluctantly went to the banquet not knowing what would happen next, but with a foreboding sense that all was not well in ‘Hamanville.’ Just to refresh your memory, no one knew that Esther was a Jew, and in obedience to Mordecai, she had kept her heritage a secret. Add to that the fact that Ahasuerus loved Esther, and Haman had been checkmated by God before the game was even begun. Haman was about to fall into the hands of an angry God.

What about you and me? Do we defy God? Do you defy God’s love and reject the loving sacrifice of His Son? Then you, too, one day will fall into the hands of the angry Living God, the same one who took down Haman. Repent; the end is near. Jesus is the ONLY WAY of salvation for all men everywhere (Acts 4:12).

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding

Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch

Online: https://www.mississaugamissionarybaptistchurch.com/ (under construction)

Email: missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

Esther Lesson 9: Our Time to Stand Up and Stand Out :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: March 9, 2021 by RR7

Chapter 4:4-17

“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. ⁵ Then Esther called Hathach, one 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.

⁶ So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square that was in front of the king’s gate. ⁷ 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. ⁸He 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 into the king to make supplication to him and plead before him for her people.

⁹ So Hathach returned and told Esther the words of Mordecai. ¹⁰ Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a command for Mordecai: ¹¹‘All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law: put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live. Yet I myself have not been called to go into the king these thirty days.‘

¹² So they told Mordecai Esther’s words. ¹³ And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: ‘Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. ¹⁴ For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?‘

¹⁵ Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: ¹⁶‘Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so, I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!‘ ¹⁷So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther commanded him.“

Last week we talked about the need for God’s people to run away from the ‘woke’ church thing. This is so important. The desire to be just like the world in the Lord’s churches is killing us. We are to stand up and stand out. We are called cities on a hill, we are called lights, and we are called salt by Jesus in the New Testament. The idea of blending in was never in Jesus’ thoughts as He taught during His earthly ministry. Christians who blend in and never stand out for the Lord are not doing what we are called to do. There are many who claim to be Christians who support abortion, are okay with same-sex marriages, and have the idea that God is love so He is okay with all of our sinfulness. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

God hates sin, and in Romans 1: 18-32, God lays out the very sinfulness that we see today. I want to be clear that this is nothing new.

The Roman Empire that Paul was writing about was just as eaten up with homosexuality and the same kind of debauchery that we see today. It is just that we see it on TV, and maybe since there is a larger population, it seems that we have an avalanche of sexual sins, but it is no different than it was in Paul’s day. They were just as open as we see it today; the rise of effeminate men and other perversions was there for all to see. Paul, via the Holy Spirit, wrote about these things in Romans 1. This kind of defiance of God and His ways is the root of the attack on Christians in Paul’s day. The same defiance is fueling the attack today. These people know that there is a God, a true and living God to whom they will answer, and they are defying Him to His face and have no sense of shame or fear of the Living God.

Our freedoms and our very lives and the lives of our children are at stake, and someone needs to stand and do something.

We find ourselves in a dire situation, much like the situation here in our account of Esther. We have political enemies that have bargained for our demise. The recent laws that have been enacted by the US Congress are attacks on the very foundation of Christianity. Laws like HR5 and others in places like Australia limit what we can say about transgender and homosexual lifestyles, making some verses of the Bible illegal to say and preach from. In the case of Australia, one is not allowed to counsel an individual against a sex change or the like.

A new law that is being proposed in California will make it illegal for stores like Walmart to have boy’s and girl’s toys or clothing sections. All the toys and clothes must be in one section. In some cases, like in HR5, they are trying to make it so that no places can have male and female washrooms at all; even gyms where the showers will not have male and female restrictions, for instance. In these new laws are grave penalties of jail and financial burdens in the form of fines that will cripple most churches.

There is coming a day to make a stand; we will either have to stand up or become obsolete and forgo our call to preach the truth of God, the whole truth of God.

Esther did not know what was happening, verses 4-9

Much like Esther, many Christians do not know what is going on. They are blissfully ignorant and love being so. They are of the idea that this stuff just brings them down and spoils their mojo. People like me who try to inform others about the goings-on around us are called fear mongers, causing anxiety and stress. The Bible teaches that God’s people should be wise to the world around us and that we should be armed and ready for battle (Ephesian 6:10-18). In teaching on the armour of God, one will soon discover that there is no protection for the back of the soldier; we are to be moving forward and engaged in the battle. One of the most important parts of being engaged is knowing your enemy. In the military world, this is called Intelligence; this is knowing what your enemy will do or where he will be before he even does it.

Our sword is the Word of God. It is powerful and sharp according to Hebrews 4:12, able to get right down the thoughts and intents of the heart.

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

When we do not know the Word of God and we fail to read and study it, we find ourselves at a disadvantage in the war we are fighting.

Esther did not know why Mordecai was mourning, and she tried to clothe him and cover his concern. She only saw the fruit of the problem and not the problem itself. The same is true in our world today; we see the fruit and often fail to dig deeper into the problem. The root of homosexuality and the like is a hatred for God and all of His ways (see Romans 1:21). These defiant people ‘knew God’ but were not thankful. In Romans 1:25, they changed God’s truth into a lie. In Romans 1:28, they did not retain God in their knowledge. And in Romans 1:30, they hated God.

People like my Prime Minister simply hate God. Others like this hate God, and they hate you and me as His children. Haman hated the Jews, and in reality, he hated God, and he was going to destroy the Jews in defiance of God. He would stop at nothing to hurt God, and the best way to do that was to kill His people. We are in the same boat; these politicians, many, not all, simply hate God and are defying Him by attacking us.

Mordecai made Esther aware of what was going on; he told her about the financial reward being paid to kill all of the Jews in the 127 provinces that Ahasuerus ruled and that she, a Jew, would not escape even living undercover like she was, and that eventually they would kill Mordecai and put 2+2 together and figure out she was a Jew and kill her as well.

All of us are targets in the war right now. All Christians are serious targets in the war that is being fought against us and the Truth. You and I will not be allowed to be undercover Christians for much longer. Somewhere, somehow, you and I will be called to stand and opt-in or opt-out of the new normal based on what the Bible says. Your secret Christianity will come out.

Esther; God’s tool, verses 10-17

God is good!!! He is so far ahead of the enemy that it is mind-boggling sometimes. We can go all the way back to Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers in the book of Genesis and see how God was way ahead of things that would threaten His people. From Joseph all the way to Moses, to Gideon, to Jeremiah and on, God always has someone in place. Someone that He put there to be used at the right time to give God the glory and effect the change necessary to save His people. Did God’s people go through tough times? Yes! But God had a plan and a purpose and a person.

Esther was that person, and she did not even know it. God put a Jewish girl at the top of the political pyramid in the empire, and He did something even more amazing; God sent a girl that Ahasuerus would love (Esther 2:17). This was very rare. Many political marriages were just that: political — no love, just sex and grandkids to preserve the peace between two rival empires. But God put Esther in the palace, and Ahasuerus loved her. This gave her more power than anyone else in the palace to influence the king, and it would provide the opportunity to save the Jews. God was so far ahead of Haman that it is sad, really. Arrogance always proceeds a great fall, and Haman was about to fall. In fact, he was already falling; he just could not feel it.

Esther was God’s tool; she had been honed and prepared for this time, and Mordecai had a big part in this.

Parents, are you preparing your children to be used by God? Have you set the example of being a vessel for God? Have you instilled in them the idea that God has them where they are for His purpose and His plan? Mordecai did this for Esther, and she was in the right place, set there by God for His use. Instill in yourselves and your children that obedience is the highest form of worship. We have become enamored today with singers and bands; they lead worship with songs, and there is nothing wrong with that. But what has happened is that the experience has become more important than the execution. What is the point of singing about how good God is if you have no plan to obey Him? If there is no obedience, then there is no worship; it is just a ritual.

Are you ready to stand up? Esther had to risk her life to do so. What about you and me? Are we ready to risk our lives, our jobs, and our earthly security to be obedient to the Lord?

I will tell you that I have been praying and asking God to help me to stand when the time comes. I feel like Gideon, me a warrior? No Lord, you’ve got the wrong guy; I am just a lowly preacher and salesman. I am no one. I am just a broken man saved by grace, no one special and no one at all. But inside I feel that the time will soon come when like Esther, we will be called to step up and step out for the Truth of God’s word and Jesus’ Gospel. We may have to risk life and security for the Truth and for the sake of our fellow man if we are to be salt and light to a lost and dying world.

Will you and I be like Isaiah and say, “Here am I, Lord, send me.” Or will we hide and let someone else do the heavy lifting? Are we as pastors preparing the Lord’s people and churches to stand in the war and fight, or are we just coddling them until Jesus comes? Oh Lord, have mercy on us.

You and I are God’s tools to be used for His glory and purposes, and sometimes those goals are served in our pain and even our deaths. The apostles rejoiced that they were considered worthy by God to suffer for Him; may we have the same idea, and may the Holy Spirit grant us the strength to suffer and die if necessary for the Lord’s plan to be enacted and fulfilled. If you are not serving the Lord in peaceful and secure times, serving Him at the risk of life and limb will be very, very difficult.