Flourishing in Exile
FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS
INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW
Good morning! If you’ve been with us the past couple of months, you know we’re in a sermon series entitled, “Flourishing in Exile”. In this series, we’ve examined how God wanted the Jewish people to live while in exile (first under the Babylonians and later under the Persians).
We’ve seen that even in exile the Jews weren’t to withdraw from society or wither away or just say, “Woe is me!”. Instead, they were to flourish, to be a blessing to their society (even though as exiles they were living in a land hostile to their beliefs!); they were to remain true to God’s instruction; and they were to live by faith in God. God had plans for them in exile!
We’ve seen these points as we’ve examined various instructions that God gave to the Jewish exiles and looked at various people who lived during this exile. Today we’re going to meet another person who lived during this period of exile. Her name is Esther. Her life and how God used her while in exile are amazing! Before we dive in, let’s first ask for God’s blessing on our study of His Word. LET’S PRAY!!
BACKGROUND – Interesting facts about Esther
Esther lived toward the end of the exilic period. In fact, some of the Jewish exiles had already begun returning to Jerusalem. The return from captivity to Jerusalem occurred in waves over a number of years. So, while some of Jewish captives had returned to Jerusalem, others like Esther remained in Persia. We’re introduced to Esther in Esther 2:
5 Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, 6 who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin king of Judah. 7 Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died. – Esther 2:5-7
We learn a number of interesting facts about Esther from these verses. We learn that:
Esther wasn’t actually Esther’s real name! Esther was likely the name given to her as an exile (could be either Babylonian or Persian). Her Jewish name was Hadassah.
Esther was an orphan (“she had neither father nor mother” – vs. 7).
Esther’s cousin Mordecai raised Esther as his daughter – he was likely much older.
Esther was beautiful (“had a lovely figure and was beautiful”)!
Now, someone might ask – how beautiful was Esther? Well, as we’re about to see, Esther was very beautiful. In fact, it was her beauty that started her on an adventure of a lifetime AND taught her deep truths about our God!
THE STORY OF ESTHER SUMMARIZED
The book of Esther essentially breaks into two parts. The first part recounts how Esther became queen; the second part recounts how God used her in her position as queen to save the Jewish people from being annihilated. Pretty awesome! Let me summarize both parts.
Before we meet Esther, the king’s wife (Vashti) refused one of his commands. So, he removed her. The king’s counselors recommended that he hold a “beauty contest” to select his next queen, and Esther became a contestant. Now, that may seem a bit odd since Esther was Jewish NOT Persian. But, you see, Mordecai had instructed her to NOT disclose her heritage. We read:
10 Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so. – Esther 2:10
So, Esther didn’t disclose to anyone that she was Jewish AND apparently the Persian didn’t do a good job of background checking her! As it turns out, Esther wins the contest and becomes queen. We read:
17 Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 And the king gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his nobles and officials. He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality. – Esther 2:17-18
Can you imagine that!? Esther beat out all of the other ladies in his kingdom. I couldn’t even win a beauty contest among just my family – I’m pretty sure I’d come in fourth… of four!
In the second part of this book, Esther is now queen. During this time, there is a high-ranking official in the king’s court named Haman – we’re introduced to him in chapter 3. He is a very bad person! Because of Haman’s high position, the king ordered that all were to bow down to Haman when he passed. However, Mordecai wouldn’t do that (sound familiar? Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego!). So, Haman hated Mordecai and wanted to kill him. However, when Haman learned that Mordecai was a Jew, he devised an even more evil plan: he planned to wipe out Mordecai and all of his people throughout all of Xerxes’ kingdom – at this time Xerxes’ kingdom extended from Cush (eastern Sudan) to India!
Now, there were two things that Haman didn’t know. This first thing that Haman didn’t know is that Queen Esther was Jewish – remember, she had kept that secret even from the king. So, Esther was one of those he wanted to eradicate!
The second thing Haman didn’t know was that Mordecai had earlier saved the king’s life by alerting the king to an assassination plot. We read in Esther 2 (BEFORE we meet Haman):
21 … two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, became angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. 22 But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai. 23 And when the report was investigated and found to be true, the two officials were impaled on poles. All this was recorded in the book of the annals in the presence of the king. – Esther 2:21-23
Both of these facts become important in this story. However, before we go further, let me make a COMMENT. Here we see a theme we’ve seen before: flourishing in exile by being a blessing. Mordecai could have overlooked this. He could have said to himself: why do I care who rules over us in exile?! But, he did what God had commanded the Jewish people to do while in exile – he did what he could to be a blessing in his society even though he was actually an exile! Mordecai wanted to honor the king and even protect him.
Returning to story, after selecting a date for this destruction to occur Haman tells the king:
8 Then Haman said to King Xerxes, “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. 9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them…” – Esther 3:8-9a
The king gave Haman permission to do this and an edict is sent throughout the land:
13 Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. – Esther 3:13
When Mordecai learned of this, he tore his clothes. He put on sackcloth & ashes and went into the city wailing loudly and bitterly. When Esther heard about Mordecai’s behavior, she sent one of her attendants to find out why Mordecai was acting this way. Mordecai explained the situation to Esther’s attendant AND asked that she go to the king to beg for mercy that the edict would be nullified. This was, admittedly, a long-shot. However, there was an even more serious issue for Esther in this request. We read about this issue:
10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.” – Esther 4:10-11
Esther was essentially saying that she wasn’t allowed to approach the king even though she is married to him. How would you like that kind of marriage? [Ok, maybe some of us might like that today, right?] To accost the king without his calling could result in death! Upon receiving this message, Mordecai had some key things to say to Esther. We read:
12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 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 your royal position for such a time as this?” – Esther 4:12-14
EXPLAIN GRAVITY of request – could die, why give up her life? Especially as neither the king nor Haman knew she was Jewish?
In the end, Esther sent this message to Mordecai:
15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “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 attendants 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.” – Esther 4:15-16
So, Esther makes the decision to approach the king with her request. Now, if you’re familiar with this story, you’re gonna get mad at me because I’m going to stop here. I realize that the way this story ends is an example of God’s amazing sovereignty and irony. However, I don’t have time to go over it now, so please forgive me for ending our exposition here.
Let me just say that as it turns out, Esther did what she promised, and the king allowed her into his presence. This resulted in the deliverance of the Jewish people. If we had enough time, I’d love to explain how it all happened as it is an absolutely brilliant example of how God worked in this situation as it is both amazing and ironic. But, we don’t have time this morning as there is so much to note in what we’ve covered thus far. Suffice to say that God’s sense of humor in how the Jewish people are saved is awesome! I encourage you to read the last six chapters of Esther to see what God does – it’s definitely worth your time.
CAVEAT/TRANSITION
Now, to be comprehensive, I should note that there are a some Bible scholars who view Esther and Mordecai less shall we say, "charitably". These scholars raise questions and concerns about Esther and Mordecai's behavior/conduct and whether they were acting in a way that honors God.
Unfortunately, we also don't have time to examine this alternative view this morning. But I'm happy to chat about this after service if you happen to be one of those scholars and/or if you're just interested. For our purposes today, regardless of why Esther and Mordecai acted as they did, I want to focus our remaining time on what we can glean from the interaction between Esther and Mordecai as they discuss what to do once the edict to annihilate the Jews was decreed and how these gleanings apply to our lives today.
KEY POINTS
Specifically, I want to point our four truths we can glean from their discussion.
1) God’s plan cannot be thwarted even if we are disobedient (4:14)
First, Mordecai reminds Esther that God’s plan cannot be thwarted by our inaction. God is NOT dependent on what we do or don’t do. Mordecai says to Esther:
14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place… - Esther 4:14
God’s plan cannot fail. It will occur. While He expects us to play our part, our disobedience won’t thwart Him. God’s sovereignty ensures that His plan will be done. You can trust it!
2) Mordecai reminds Esther that perhaps her position was, “for such a time as this” (4:14b)
Second, Mordecai challenges Esther’s reluctance to risk her life. He reminds Esther that perhaps she is in her position for such a time as this. Rather than being an encouragement, Mordecai’s words are actually a rebuke and a reminder – Esther is being rebuked for thinking only of herself and what might happen to her. It’s a bit ironic that this is what she is concerned with when the lives of all Jewish people in the Persian kingdom was at risk! And, do you see what Mordecai did? He completely re-frames how Esther should view her life and what has happened to her thus far. Think about that. All that happened to Esther (being an orphan, being adopted by Mordecai, her physical appearance, being in exile, etc.) to bring her to being the queen was orchestrated by God “for such a time as this”.
3) Esther calls for all the Jews in Susa to fast for her (4:16a)
Third, did you notice what Esther said in her response to Mordecai? She says: 15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. – Esther 4:15-16
Esther asks Mordecai to gather all the Jews in Susa so they can fast for her [and presumably to pray as well since they go hand-in-hand]. Pastor Jordan mentioned earlier in his sermon on community when he pointed out the power of community. This echoes his point.
4) Esther accepts whatever God has in store for her: “If I perish, I perish” (4:16b)
Fourth, Esther accepts the risk. She says, “And if I perish, I perish”. Esther didn’t know what would happen! She isn’t given any assurance that this would end well. We saw this theme as well when we studied Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Pastor Brian’s sermon a few weeks ago. They said to the king in Daniel 3:
17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us[c] from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” – Daniel 3:17-18
We often commend folks for trusting God after God has made a promise, so how much more commendable for someone to trust God when they weren’t given a promise that things would resolve well?
Flourishing in Exile: “For Such a Time as This”
As I close my sermon and our sermon series, I want to invite the worship team up and ask this question: where has God positioned you “for such a time as this”? Where has God put you, be it geographically or professionally or positionally, for this exact time and place so you can be used by Him to advance His kingdom? What does He want you to do?
You see, it’s easy in a hostile environment to think: I’ll keep my head down low, I won’t “rock the boat”, I’ll just get by. It’s easy to spend your time wishing things were different or that you were born in a different time or in a different place. But, that’s the wrong way to think about your life. That’s what Esther thought before her thinking was challenged by Mordecai. Here’s the right way to think about this: where has God positioned you “for such a time as this?” What can God accomplish through you by being a light in the darkness, being a city on a hill, being salt in our society? We can complain about our situation or wish we were somewhere else in another time, but there’s a reason why we are here in this area at this time in this country. What would God have you to do “for such a time as this”?
How can you look for your purpose? Perhaps, have a “Mordecai” in your life.
God wants us to recognize what He is doing and commit to thriving in our society even if we feel like exiles in a foreign land. God wants us to positively impact our society and to flourish. God wants us to impact our society for Him even when we’re in a hostile land.
Point: do we realize that we are in this place at exactly this time, for such a time as this? Some may feel that we’re not in such a great place in America now, but we are each here at God’s appointed time for us to serve Him and to advance His kingdom. To be part and partners with Him in what He is doing right here, right now in the DC area both individually AND as a church. Don’t squander your time here wishing you were someplace else or were born in a different generation. You are here for “such a time as this” so make use of that knowledge and do what God has called you to do. The Jewish people were called to flourish in exile. In a foreign land with people who held foreign even hostile views. They were still to be a blessing - we are no different.