We find this throughout the book of Esther. I'm sure as you have already tasted in the story that there are things going on that all seem to be about coincidence. It just happened to be that so and so was at the right place at the right time. Why is there no such thing? I know we sometimes still use that kind of language. It was good luck, you know, I pulled off a good score on the test or whatever it might be. But it's because there is a God, and even though the story of Esther, it doesn't seem God is present, it seems he's absent, he's behind the scenes, yet we know that God is all-knowing and all-powerful, that he is sovereignly orchestrating his will in all of the details of the story. And I think it's exciting because Esther is kind of like our life. We don't have the curtain pulled back in our lives to see, oh, here's why everything is going on. Here's why this happened in my life. This is what happened to my friend over here. We don't have those answers, do we? But we do have the answer of God. Our gracious, merciful God who has all wisdom and authority is working His will. A.W. Pink wrote this, Our lives are neither the product of blind fate nor the result of capricious chance, but every detail of them was ordained from all eternity and is now ordered by the living and reigning God. Not a hair of our heads can be touched without his permission. That's encouraging, isn't it? Right, as Jesus says, he would point out the birds in the field. God takes care of the sparrows. God knows the number of hairs on your head. Nothing happens in your life apart from his will. But Proverbs says the lot is cast, but every decision is from whom? Is from the Lord. So there is no such luck. The story of Esther continues. here at the end of chapter two, what seems to be a fortunate kingdom-altering coincidence. Actually, a few coincidences, as we might say. Let us first observe a friend of the king, and then I want us to observe an enemy of the Jews, and then I want us finally to look at a chance for deliverance, if there is such thing as chance. First of all, let's look at a friend of the King. You know, sometimes if we look back at our past, it seemed we were at the right place at the right moment, weren't we? Or we knew the right person who knew something. We might think of a job opportunity that came about, that we happened to run into an old friend who knew of an opening and we applied and we got it and it all seemed to be mere coincidence. Or maybe meeting the person you would spend the rest of your life with, you just happen to run into somewhere. Maybe at the college cafeteria or wherever it might have been. You had no idea it would change the rest of your life. We may call it coincidence, but looking back in the mirror, right, we see it was really the hand of God, wasn't it? It was God all along. And sometimes it is more clear as we look in the past. As we look backwards, things sometimes do seem more clear. We can see more of what God had been doing all along. But often in the present, we don't. Right? That's a struggle. Sometimes we really don't see what's going on. We can't conclude, well, here's what God is doing. But this was the case here for Queen Esther's cousin, Mordecai. Let's read the account, chapter 2. verses 19 through the end of the chapter. Now when the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate. Esther had not made known her kindred or her people as Mordecai had commanded her. For Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him. In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bikthem and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai. When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows, and it was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king. Well, all by coincidence, right? Mordecai happened to be at the right place at the right time. The irony of the story of Esther continues. Again, I'm beginning to believe more and more the narrator is Mordecai himself. I seem to know all these details of what took place. And it says there that the virgins were gathered, verse 19, that is the harem, the king's harem of women, were gathered a second time. At first glance, it might seem he's looking for another new queen. Maybe he's done with Esther, but it doesn't seem to be the case. It may very well just be he's accumulating more wives, really. He's never satisfied, it seems, as the king. Either way, as we will soon see, the king doesn't get around to spending much time with Esther. In fact, later in chapter 4, verse 11, Esther says, I have not been called to come into the king for 30 days. So Esther is not always with the king. She doesn't always have access to the king. And that's important, as we're going to see later. But here we find Mordecai. It starts to focus on this man, Mordecai, the cousin of Esther. Remember, Mordecai had taken Esther as his own daughter because she had lost her parents, and he had raised her. And it even mentions here in the text that she continued to submit to him. She obeyed Mordecai, even though she was older in her years. She was still young, but she wasn't a kid anymore, and she still respected and honored him. And I think that's neat to see here in their relationship. Mordecai and Esther had a very special relationship. Mordecai looked after Esther. And you see that throughout the story. And here we find him. But I don't think Mordecai is simply lingering in order to keep a protective eye on his daughter Esther. We find something very interesting about Mordecai. He is a servant of the king. He is some kind of official under the king. I wish we knew a story. I wish we knew exactly what he did and how he got there. But now he is near the king. God has placed Mordecai in a particular position, just as he placed who in a position? Esther, right? To be at the king's gate means he carried some kind of governmental position. Remember the king's gate or the gate of the city is where the elders, the officials, the leaders of the city would meet and have meetings about the business of the community or the kingdom. I always think of Samson because I'm going to use this in Serbia. Samson was the one that ripped the gate out of the city. It would not have been those two front doors. It would have been a massive wall of the castle that he would have taken out of the ground. This is where they would meet. You would have even soldiers camped out at the city gate. And so we find Mordecai is here likely making decisions for the kingdom. And so God, again, is working behind the scenes. He will soon hear of a decree from the king that even Esther will be unaware of. He seems to have some better access, maybe, than even Esther. If Esther only sees the king maybe once a month, if that, whenever he gets around to her, she, as you're going to see, is kind of unaware of what's going on in the world. Maybe you sometimes feel unaware of what's going on in the world. Well, the writer, again, highlighting Esther's faithfulness throughout the story, right? She obeys Mordecai. She doesn't disclose her identity, her Jewish identity. Mordecai is a good God-fearing Jew. It seems that he's conducting himself well within the kingdom as God's servant. And he overhears what? He overhears a plot to assassinate the king. Two of the king's eunuchs here are named Bichthin and Teresh. So this is names not to name your babies, by the way. But men with the ability to get close to the king, right? The ability to cut the throat of the king. He obviously had to have trusted men around him for his own protection. You know, we're unaware of the reason they wanted to do this. You know, I've tried to speculate and read commentators or what's going on here. Maybe because they're upset about him removing Queen Vashti, although this now likely was several years ago. This movie is kind of a movie too. This story moves along as well. So it's been a few years, but maybe they're still upset. that he remove Queen Vashti because she refused to go before his drunken friends and be a spectacle. Maybe they're upset because of how they're treated, although that's highly doubted. Maybe they want to replace this king. Maybe they're tired of his debauchery and his reckless living and his anger and how he handles himself and they just want to remove him. So there's a kind of mutiny now forming within the kingdom. Interestingly, though, the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, has an added line here. And it gives us a reason. It says, they were angry with the king because Mordecai was promoted. Interesting, isn't it? Septuagint. Is that part of the original? I don't know, but that very well could be the case. Maybe they didn't like Mordecai. Mordecai now is in the king's gate and the city gate here. Either way, we know Mordecai is now at the right place where God has providentially placed him, and he discovers the plot to kill the king. And what does he do? He tells who? Esther, right? He hears of the plot. He tells her. And it can be inferred from the story that immediately she tells the king, so I think we could even see the hand of God here. She doesn't see him too frequently that somehow she was able to get the word to the king. The two men are caught and hung on the gallows. This will not be the first time you hear of a gallo in the story of Esther. There is a lot of repetition, by the way, in the book of Esther. But Mordecai, his heroic act, is written down, notice there at the last verse of chapter 2, in the book of the Chronicles, in the presence of the king. You know, kings would record history. It's really funny, you know, studying some of, like, ancient Israel and ancient Egypt. The kings would record the good things they did. They would record the feats they had, not the defeats. You know, they wouldn't record anything bad, any bad decisions or losses. You know, so you'd read the chronicles of the king, and it seemed all really good. This was a great king. Well, here is something that was recorded. Mordecai. Somebody who saved the king. So far, you know our impression of the king, and maybe it's due to my fault to some degree, probably isn't favorable, is it? He doesn't seem to be a great king. Doesn't seem to be a very impressive king. He's very focused on himself. But yet we find something good. He records a heroic act by someone in his kingdom, and it's Mordecai. Mordecai in his heroic act is written down. It's actually said of this king that he would do this often, like in battle, if somebody was fighting with bravery and did something heroic, that he had people within the army that would record what was taking place so that you could get a reward when you returned, kind of a congressional medal of honor, right? If you did something with bravery, then the king would reward that, and that was a good thing. Just coincidence, right? Mordecai happened to be the right spot. Or is it coincidence? Is it coincidence that Queen Vashti was removed and Esther then was placed as queen? Or is it just coincidence that then Queen Esther had direct access to the king, unlike most people in the kingdom, which then allowed Mordecai, who by coincidence, being at the right place to hear the plot, was able to tell Esther, who happened to be at the right spot near the king. It all just seems to fall in place, doesn't it? Obviously you see it and you feel it. It's a string of events starting really with Vashti's refusal to come before him that God has began to put a series of events in this kingdom for a particular purpose. God is in control, isn't he? Mordecai rescues the king. Mordecai is a friend of the king, but he'll soon be forgotten. Let's look at now, secondly, an enemy of the Jews. We go from a friend to an enemy, an enemy of the Jews. The Jews have had many enemies throughout history, haven't they? We have the friend of the King Mordecai, but we're introduced to someone who is now going to become the enemy of the Jews. We are introduced to Haman. Chapter 3, verse 1. After these things, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the Agagite, the son of Hamadathah, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him. And all the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. So now we are introduced to a new character in the story, Haman. Mordecai rescues the king, and who gets promoted? Haman. I don't know what Haman did to get the promotion. It could be somehow Haman got credit. It might be he had done something else within the kingdom that caused the king to promote him. But I think it should kind of surprise the reader that after reading Mordecai and his heroic act, we have a different guy, Haman, who is then promoted at that point. And you might ask, Haman who? You should ask that in the text, Haman who? I like to say when we're studying hermeneutics, sometimes people hear hermeneutics and they say, Herman who? Well, we might ask Haman who? Who is Haman? I'm glad you asked. Verse one, notice the Agagite. Isn't that a great name to have, right? Kind of goes well with the character, as you'll see. Causes you to gag. The son of Hamadathah. Here we have Haman. Now there's a reason Agagite here is mentioned. Again, as you're reading scripture, remember every detail is important. And so we have two men, Mordecai and Haman, and the story begins to focus on these two men. Now earlier, look back at chapter 2, verse 5, we were introduced to Mordecai. there, the Jew in Susa, the capital. Mordecai, verse 5, the son of Jair, the son of Shammai, the son of Kish, a Benjaminite. And so we have, interestingly, two characters in the story of Esther who are given us, were given a background to their story. And friends, this is not just kind of useless information for your curiosity. There's a reason the narrator, who I think is Mordecai, by the way, is mentioning the background of himself and of Haman. Haman the Agagite. It's fun to say that. Mordecai, the son of Kish. If you know your Old Testament, you should be transported back in time, right? 88 miles per hour, right? Back in time, turn with me to 1 Samuel. So maybe keep a bookmark there and turn to 1 Samuel. And, you know, 1 Samuel is an amazing book. I always enjoy reading the Old Testament, but I really enjoy when I get to 1 Samuel. So many riveting stories here of King Saul, and David, and the mighty men, and Jonathan, and on it goes. But according to 1 Samuel 9 verse 1, there was a man of the tribe of Benjamin. And who was that man that Samuel begins to talk about? King Saul, right? Saul there, whose father's name was Kish. This is King Saul. He was the one who then was chosen among all the people to be the new king of Israel. Saul, son of Kish. Saul is anointed a king in chapter 10, and he begins his series of military feats. You know, when you read the story there of the beginning of the monarchy, you have the first human king, remember? The people wanted a human king. We want a human king, God, because every other nation has a human king. We need someone other than God, and God grants that to them, and they have King Saul. Things seem to go well at first, right? With the rulership of King Saul. He has many military feats, defeating the Ammonites in chapter 11. He defeats the Philistines with Jonathan's help after that. And then he defeats the Amalekites in chapter 14. It was then, when he went to fight the Amalekites, the Lord had revealed His will to Saul through the prophet Samuel. Now, if you were to go back even further, we won't, but in the Exodus, after Israel had left Egypt and they were getting to the Promised Land, it was the Amalekites who fought them. who harassed the Israelites, the Hebrews. And so later, in Deuteronomy 25, verse 17, God had placed a curse on the Amalekites because of how they treated God's people after the Exodus. Not particularly where you want to be as a nation under the curse of God. Keep that in mind. But here, the Lord reveals to Saul through Samuel to destroy the Amalekites, to kill all of them, King Saul. I'm sure you know the story. When I was a kid, my father always got me hats wherever he traveled, and he traveled all over the world. And I had a lot of hats, and I never wore any hats. I had the biggest hat collection and I didn't wear hats at all. But one hat he gave me at one point was, I think from the Marines, but it said to kill them all and let God sort them out. That was a hat. I didn't wear the hat. For sure I didn't wear that hat. But I remember having that hat. Kill them all, let God sort them out. And that's essentially what God tells Saul. Kill all the Amalekites. Take all of them out. Yes, every single one of them, young and old, and even take the animals out as well. Leave nothing out. Kill them all, let God sort them out. 1 Samuel 15, 3, God has said there, devote to destruction. Do not spare, were the words of God, and Saul defeats them. And what does Saul do? You remember, right? The story. If you don't, you probably anticipate what's going to happen in this story. King Saul defeats them, but he doesn't quite do everything God said. He leaves King Agag, and he leaves the sheep and the ox and the animals there. He fails to heed God's command. Saul didn't completely complete the instructions God had given him. And so what happened is, Samuel, the prophet and priest of Israel, shows up. Listen to 1 Samuel 15, 14. Samuel said, what then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear? Kids, can you make sounds of sheep for us for a second? I prepared my kids for this. You got it? What is this? What is the sound of sheep like? There we go. All right. I know some of you own sheep, by the way, too. But Renee should be jumping on this one. Right? The bleeding of sheep. I hear something, King Saul. What is it? I hear sheep? Why am I hearing sheep? They should all have been devoted to what? Destruction. Friends, I don't know why God would say that completely when it includes the animals, but we have to remember that God knows all things, right? He is omniscient. He knows anything that could happen in the future. I hear animal sounds. Why is this King Saul?" And Saul spared King Agag. So Samuel, the priest, takes matters into his own hands. He then slays King Agag. He takes him down and he eliminates him. He makes sure the job is done. Well then King Saul would be removed as the king and you know eventually that's when David is introduced into the story. The little shepherd boy who slayed the giant and eventually becomes the new king. Although it takes a few years. It's quite the story before David is the king. But one might ask, you know, well is it really a big deal to keep King Agag around? I mean after all he's a really nice guy. You know, and he really regrets that his people went after Israel after the Exodus, right? I don't know, maybe he was a charming man, somehow King Saul was convinced to keep him alive. But God knew the future, right? And now, let's transport ourselves back to the book of Esther, and you see somebody from whom? King Agag, right? To leave Agag was to endanger the Jews, so the Amalekites are still around, and that's when we meet the enemy of the Jews, Haman. Haman the Agagite, that is, Agag is back. It's like the old bully on the school playground is back again, and now they have to deal with him. Now the story takes an interesting turn. Haman, who loves his new promotion and position, he's kind of like the king, he loves the honor, the recognition, the accolade that comes with a high position, and the people are to bow to him, right? I mean, wouldn't that feed someone's pride? And as he comes in, the men in the area there in the city gate bow to Haman, but who refuses to bow? Mordecai, right? You bet your sweet bippy. That's not in the Hebrew. But it's true, right? You would expect it, right? You expect Mordecai's not going to bow to him. Verse 3, the officials ask him why. Why do you transgress the king's command? In fact, they keep asking him why. Why won't you bow to Haman? Again and again, it says there, verse 4, they ask day after day, I think, trying to wear him down. Why won't you bow? There's got to be a good reason for this. We want to know. By the way, that phrase, day after day, also takes us back in time to Genesis 39 to Joseph. Joseph there was followed by Potiphar's wife, if you remember the story of Joseph, the jailer there. God had placed him there in prison and then he became a head over the jail system. It says Potiphar's wife, finding him handsome, wanting to be with him, pursued him day after day, Genesis 39, 10. Again and again, Joseph never gave in to her. Here you have the same phrase day after day. The officials bother Mordecai. Why won't you bow to Haman? eventually Mordecai gives in and what does he tell them? It says there, verse 4, he told them he was a Jew. That's why he wouldn't bow to Haman. Now it's interesting because it's easy to assume When Mordecai doesn't bow and he discloses that he's a Jew, the reason is because he won't worship other gods. I think many people take it that way, that what he's saying by saying, I'm a Jew, means I won't bow and worship someone else. But the reality is throughout Old Testament history, many of God's people bowed to others in high positions. Bowing did not mean they were worshiping them. Bowing was simply a way often to honor a king or someone in high power. So I don't think that's really the issue that's going on for Mordecai. I don't think the issue was that he would be communicating that he worships the king or that he worships Haman. Rather, it's an honorable recognition of the position. I think something else is going on. I think Mordecai knows who he is, and I think Mordecai knows who Haman is. I think that's what's going on here. He knows where Haman is from, right? A Gagite, right? He knows everything about him. He also knows he's from the tribe of Benjamin. He is a son of whom? Saul, he's in the line of Kish and Saul. And so you have Saul and you have King Agag here again, meeting again in the Old Testament story. Mordecai knows exactly who he is. He is a descendant of King Saul. Haman is a descendant of King Agag. No wonder he won't bow to Haman. Yes, he's a Jew and he knows it and he's proud of that. And he's not proud of who Haman is, an Amalekite. There's a lot of history here. Now, some have speculated, there may be more drama than this, that Mordecai saved the king but was not promoted, and Haman was promoted. And maybe some of that's going on. Maybe there's some jealousy or envy here that Haman is being promoted and he's not. It's hard to tell in the text. But I think the main point is, how is Mordecai supposed to bow to Haman? I mean, that goes against everything you are as a Jew, right? One of your greatest enemies in history, who you were supposed to take out, who tried to take your people out, and now you're gonna bow to them? So after he had been telling Esther to do what? Don't tell anyone who you are, Mordecai tells them who he is, that he's a Jew. Word gets back to Haman and you know it's not good news. Haman becomes outraged that he won't bow and more outraged that Mordecai is a Jew. An old enemy. Well, Haman is not only full of pride and self-confidence, but he's full of anger, right? He is an angry man. Upon discovering Mordecai is a Jew, he seeks to do one thing, verse 6, and that is destroy all the Jews. You know, so far in Esther, we've seen anger mishandled, haven't we? This is a good example for us in how we handle our own anger. We've seen the king mishandle his anger. Now we see Haman mishandle his anger. Someone doesn't bow to me and pay me respect, the respect that I am due, right? Not only that, he's an old enemy of mine. And so he seeks to do one thing, that is destroy all the Jews. And just put yourself in Haman's position for a minute. You may have the ability to annihilate your greatest enemy of your people. Haman knows that, he sees that, and he's gonna take advantage of that opportunity. And so in a sense, Mordecai is now dealing with Saul's foolish decision to leave King Agag and kids, the bleeding sheep, right? Do I hear the sheep? Where are the sheep? Where are the sounds? That's right. I really think if you're a Jew reading this story, you can hear the sheep. Because they were spared. Because the point is King Agag was spared. And man, if you're a Jew, you're thinking, we need to obey God, don't we? God knows what he's talking about. God knows all things. God knows that in the future, If they had spared some of the Amalekites, they would be a problem again for us. And sure enough, that's the case. So Haman comes up with a plan. You know, he's got to get the king on board, right? How is he going to convince the king to kill all the Jews? So he attempts to get a king's edict on the matter. If he can somehow get the king to make a decree to kill the Jews, then he can be successful. He certainly can't do it by himself. And so he gathers the magicians, it says there, starting in verse 7 and on, and they throw the dice. This set of dice that they would use they were pebbles and broken pieces of rocks And you would throw them they would help determine a matter And he does so, and in doing so back then, as you would throw the dice, you would appeal to the gods of the heavens in order to determine the outcome of the future. It was a kind of way of tapping into the gods back then to determine the fate of the Jews. Well, the dice is cast, and it lands on that the Jews must be exterminated within the year. What a coincidence, right? In fact, the dice land on one particular day. And this is kind of the design of the dice, was also to determine the actual day by which you would implement your plan. The dice is cast and by somehow, good luck, it will take place 11 months from that day. Now it's interesting finding that out here in the text later. It says you're 11 months. That's a long time, isn't it? It's a long time if you're a Jew to know that you will, as you're going to see, be exterminated. But that's where the cast, the dice is cast. And so Haman thinks he has good luck. Mervyn Brenneman writes, It is believed that in the first month of the year, lots were cast to choose opportune days for important events. And friends, what day does it fall for the Jews extermination? The day before Passover. the day before Passover, the 13th day of the 12th month of Adar during Passover. Is this coincidence that the day, the week that the Jews celebrated their deliverance from Egypt is going to be the very time by which they are exterminated? And the Jews, as you know, are going to hear about this fate. The Jews would face annihilation at the time when they would celebrate their very deliverance from Egypt. The irony of the story continues. Haman, full of pride and zealous anger, then manipulates the king. He's cast these dice here. He comes to the king and he says, there's a threat within the kingdom. Haman is a mixture of truth and lies, and I won't read every detail of chapter 3 here. But he comes before the king, and he says that, well, the Jews, he doesn't even say the Jews, he says there's a people group within the kingdom, and they are spread throughout the kingdom, and they have their own laws, they observe their own laws. And that's true, they do. But then he adds, but they resist your laws, O king. In other words, there are problems within your kingdom that you're unaware of. very much like the Jews of the 1930s and the 1940s who, living peacefully in Europe, living peacefully, running shops and places there in Germany, were no threat to the country of Germany or to Europe. Very similar, isn't it? The Jews are no threat at all. But Haman pitches to the king that they are a threat, and yet he does not tell the king who they are. So Haman deceives the king. We go from one man who rescued the king to one man who deceives the king who is the real friend of the king. It's Mordecai, isn't it? They are a threat to you, oh honorable king Ahasuerus. You need to do something about this. is perfect manipulation, because if you remember, there's already been some rebellions within the kingdom, right? In Babylon area, in Egypt, there were different rebellions that the king had to deal with. Here's another threat, king. You need to deal with this threat. Haman doesn't tell the king who they are. The king doesn't know it's the Jews. The king trusts the words of Haman, who he has promoted. He gives Haman his ring, which basically gives him the authority to do what's necessary. Now we see King Ahasuerus finally trying to protect his kingdom, right? You know, we begin the story with he's partying, Greece is becoming more powerful, they're losing battles against Greece. All the meanwhile, the king is drinking and merry of heart. He's not doing anything to protect his kingdom. Now he is doing something to protect his kingdom, but he's deceived in doing so. And if it wasn't enough, Haman even bribes the king. There in verse 9, "'If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king's business. I will reward,' Haman says, "'those who fulfill this mission to take the Jews out.'" 10,000 talents. Does anyone here have 10,000 talents? Heyman didn't have 10,000 talents, by the way. He literally, 10,000 talents was two-thirds the annual revenue of the entire kingdom of the Medes and Persians. There's no way he had this kind of wealth. I looked it up. The United States total revenue last year was $4.92 trillion. That's a big difference, trillion dollars. So imagine a man telling the president that he will graciously donate $3.2 trillion. That's a man with a lot of wealth, right? Move over Elon Musk. Whoever this is has a lot of money, and he doesn't really have any of that money. Haman's lying to the king, isn't he? He doesn't have this kind of money. Again, I don't have all the answers. Why would the king believe this? I don't know. Some of this is somewhat humorous. But Haman is a liar. He's a deceiver. He's no loyal servant to the king. Nevertheless, like Joseph, the king gives the ring to Haman, like Pharaoh gave the authority and power to Joseph. Do what you think is best. And he makes this proclamation throughout the provinces of the kingdom of the Persian Empire. And the text says there in verse 15, the city of Susa, the capital, was thrown into what? Confusion. So what do Haman and the king do? It says there, they sat down to enjoy a drink. Kind of a strange turn of events, isn't it? The Jews have been decreed to be killed throughout the empire in 11 months, and Haman sits down with the king for a latte. And you have this kind of strange irony. I think in a sense, it's like Haman is very certain things are gonna work out. He's rest assured the decree is now of the king's hand. It will take place. His mission will be fulfilled. He will exterminate his old enemy of his people. You know, the Jews have faced this a lot throughout history, haven't they? Thinking again in World War II of over six million of them Slaughtered. Here we find the same spirit behind Haman. Someone who wants to destroy God's chosen people. Who is the real enemy here? It's not Haman, is it? Remember the story of Esther? There are always things going on behind the scenes. We know the great enemy of Israel is who? Satan, the ancient serpent, right? Oh, how he would like to remove the Jewish people entirely from the face of the earth. No wonder they're always persecuted. No wonder there's always an enemy against them. And so it's almost paralleling the Gospels when it says Satan entered Judas in order to arrest Jesus. We have, in a sense, Satan is behind, I believe, Haman in trying to exterminate the Jewish people. Haman should have known, though, what God said in Genesis 12.3, I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Those who have persecuted the Jews in history always come to ruin. Haman is only placing a curse on himself. Really, there are two curses then on Haman. Deuteronomy 25, there's already a curse on the Amalekites because of how they treated Israel. Now, Genesis 12.3 places a curse on Haman because he's chosen to try to destroy the Jews. You can already know where this story is going to go, right? Word is sent out, all provinces, a cold, terrifying decree of the king. Jews will be arrested and killed within the year. Ironically, Haman's name means confusion. And Haman, the master manipulator, will get his will so he thinks. Meanwhile, the king has no clue what's going on. Meanwhile, the king doesn't know that the man who rescued him will be executed. Let's finish the story with number three, a chance at deliverance. A chance at deliverance. It started out well, didn't it? Mordecai rescues the king. This is good. This is good news. But then it had an interesting, ironic, and yet very unfortunate, dark, grim turn as Haman, discovering Mordecai is a Jew, and his anger towards Mordecai and the Jewish people. Now the decree is sent out. The Jews will be exterminated. Now we have a chance at deliverance, a chance so to speak. Mordecai learns of the decree, it says there in chapter 4, verse 1, and he mourns. He puts on sackcloth like the Jews would do, uncomfortable clothing, and he would mourn for his people. But friends, Mordecai is a God-fearing Jew. He knows Yahweh, and he's not without hope. The Jews also begin to mourn, and another ironic twist is Esther seems to be unaware of what's going on. She hears a Mordecai mourning, and so she sends word, and she sends new clothes for Mordecai, and he doesn't accept them. Verse 4, she becomes deeply distressed. because of Mordecai's state, and she needs to find out why he is weeping. What is taking place? Mordecai, having saved the king, is now in mourning. And so, through a messenger, Mordecai and Esther continue to communicate. Mordecai gets the word back to Esther. There's been a decrease in El. Your people, my people, will be destroyed. And so what are they to do? Mordecai then develops a plan to rescue the people. And his plan is one person, Queen Esther, right? All hope lies within Queen Esther, it seems. Mordecai doesn't seek vengeance on Haman. He leaves that in the hands of God. But he attempts to rescue his people by pleading with Esther. for such a time as this." Verse 12, they told Mordecai what Esther had said. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the Jews. Because earlier she had mentioned she hadn't even seen the king in 30 days. You know, what are the chances of doing anything to help? Mordecai says, don't think you're the exception. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place. But you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to a kingdom for such a time as this?" Basically, Mordecai tells her three things. The first is, don't think you can escape because you're the queen. Just because you're the queen, you're not the exception. He knows Haman. Secondly, if you don't act and help, God will bring about deliverance from something else, from someone else. I love that. That's a man of hope, isn't it? He knows the promises of God. He knows that God has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. That's not just a New Testament language. That's Old Testament language. And maybe it's going to come from someone else, Esther, if you choose not to help. Maybe that's a prophecy by Mordecai. Thirdly, he says, recognize though, Esther, where God has placed you. Right? Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this. Now as we near the close of this part of the story, think about you and Esther's high heels for a moment. Esther's in a hard place, isn't she? She's in a tough spot. We might say between a rock and a hard place. She's in a no-win situation. If she chooses to not act, then she will likely perish with her people. If she chooses to go before the king, she very well could perish as well in doing so. So what is she determined to do? Esther told them to reply to Mordecai. Here's the message I want you to give Mordecai. Go gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish." Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him. Put on a fast. Everyone pray is implied here. Get on your knees before our Lord, our God. And what does Esther say? I will go to the king. Remember in the early in the story, you can't just go to the king, can you? You can't just walk into the king's chamber. Even as the queen, you can't do that. Otherwise, your life is on the line. And she says, I will go to the king. If I perish, I perish. So we go from one brave woman, right, Queen Vashti, who boldly went before the king, risking her own life, to another brave woman in the Old Testament text, Queen Esther, who is going to go before the king now, risking her life to save her people. And she resolves to do so. But I love what Mordecai says, right? You should underline this in your Bible. And it's not bad to underline your Bible, by the way, as far as I know. For such a time as this, Isn't that great words? Is there such thing as coincidence, chance, and luck? There's not, right? For such a time as this, Mordecai says, little Esther, God has placed you here for a purpose. Here is the reason why you are there. For such a time as this, R.C. Sproul said, The words, such a time as this, drip with a sense of providence. It was a time for divine intervention when God would use a human agent to bring about his deliverance of his people. It was Esther's moment of destiny, the moment for which she was born. It's great, isn't it? Those are great words. If I perish, I perish. There may have never been braver words spoken from a woman than that of Esther, who will now face the most powerful man in the world, placing her life not only in his hands, but placing her life in the Lord's hands to rescue her people. Esther isn't there by coincidence, is she? God has placed her there for such a time as this. The moment, as Sproul said, for which she was born. We'll find out what happens next time, let's pray. Father, you might seem hidden in the story, invisible, Maybe then you might have even seen to be indifferent to your people, to have forgotten the people that you had rescued, that you had redeemed. And yet we see that you and your sovereign hand have orchestrated decisions, events, what we might think of as coincidences, all according to your good plan. Oh, Father, what a reminder. What a fresh reminder this morning. Maybe in the midst of our own life challenges, maybe there are some here, Lord, who are going through very hard times, not knowing the reasons why, not seeing any benefits. Yet, Lord, this text, this story draws us back to worship you. It draws us back to see that you are working your plan, even though it may not seem to be that at first. You are always working all things for good, to those who love you, to those who are called according to your purpose. Father, may you receive the glory and honor this morning as we continue to worship. We pray in your name, amen.