Please turn with me in your Bibles once again to that passage we read earlier in Esther chapter number one. Esther chapter number one, which will be our text for this evening's message, entitled The King's Reign. The King's Reign. And we're beginning this midweek series looking through this book of Esther. And one thing you may notice, as we read earlier, It is a little different from many of the other books of the Old Testament. What's a bit different about this is they're in Persia. They're in media Persia, and we have this ruler at the beginning of Hazoras, who reigned from India even onto Ethiopia. Something's different, isn't it? Because most of the Old Testament is dealing with the promised land. What's the case? Well, they are in exile. Some of God's people at this time had returned to the promised land since the beginning of the Persian Empire, but there were many who remained in Persia and in various parts for various different reasons. They didn't go back when that decree was issued by Cyrus the Great, as he's known to history. The media Persian empire here, it was the most dominant empire the world had ever seen up until that point. bigger than the Babylonian before that, bigger than the Assyrian world empire before that. And this is the book in which we find Esther, Mordecai, and many of the Jews. Now, you may say, well, how come they didn't return to the land? We see in this book, and Lord willing we'll see throughout this book, the Lord's providential care of his people, protecting them when they are in trouble, giving them what they do not deserve. There's no merit in the people of God here. But God continues to provide our needs. Now, before we even meet Esther, and before we even meet Mordecai, we'll see them in chapter 2 and other chapters, I hope we'll see that God is at work, even before the big threat comes to the people of God later on in the book. What happens? One queen is removed, Vashti. Another queen, later on, is set up in her place. But God is at work in all the details of life. And what's very interesting about this book is God is not explicitly mentioned at all in this book. Yet he continues to work sovereignly and powerfully. And as I hope we'll see as well as we look through this book, there is no accidents. with God. There's nothing that takes him by surprise. So as we look at this chapter, we're going to look at it looking at the reign of this king Ahasuerus, but we're also going to look at and find comfort from our true king. the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords, whose empire is far, far more impressive. Our first point is this, the reach of this reign. The reach of this reign, verse number one, now it came to pass in the days of Hazoras, this is of Hazoras, which reigned from India, even onto Ethiopia. That's hard for us to imagine such a large land. So you're going well into Asia, and you're going well then into Africa, a huge area. Over, as it says, 127 and 20 provinces, or 127,000. 127,000. over 107 and 20 provinces. So this is a very large reach of this king. This is about a little bit under 500 years before the Lord is on the earth, before the Lord Jesus Christ was born. And as we said earlier, there was the Assyrians, There weren't many world empires by that point. The Assyrians were vicious, scary, what they would do to their enemies. Then the Babylonians were dominant after them. And then what's called the Medo-Persian Empire, bigger and bigger. Later on, the Roman Empire would be bigger again. and more impressive. But this is the biggest empire up until this point in history, a little under 500 years before the time of Jesus's birth. It's very impressive. Today, I suppose in many ways, we struggle to think of the idea of empire. If you lived before the Second World War, there would have been the British Empire. I suppose the closest thing today is probably the Americans, but I don't think they'd appreciate that term, empire. But they have massive influence all over the world. They have massive influence all over the world. So at the presidential election coming up, all the world is very, very interested in who is going to be the next American president. because it has a big impact upon the rest of the world. At this time, Ahasuerus was the most important earthly ruler upon the face of the planet. From India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces. And as we see, the larger the spread of the empire, the greater the reign. Also, the more likely it is to be remembered in history. We still remember, thousands of years later, the students of history still remember Xerxes. That was his name in Greek. Thousands of years later. But this rain is a drop in the bucket compared to the rain of God. His reach has no limits. He had 127 provinces. Well, what is puny compared to God's reign? If we turn to Isaiah 40 and verse 15. Isaiah 40 and verse number 15. says this, behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up the aisles as a very little thing. So when we read this and may be impressed by the size of it, it is tiny, puny, compared to the reign of God. His reign ended at India and ended at a border in Ethiopia. But is there any limit or end of the reach of God's reign? Is there any place across planet Earth where God does not say, mine? It all belongs to God. And how about in our lives? Maybe in our minds we have a border And we say, well, God can rule in that area. But then, well, at this point, that all belongs to me. And we may not think that we do that at times, but the Lord has the right to tell us what to do on every day of the week, in our jobs, in our schools, every area of life. God is king. And also, as well, let's think about it. He's sovereign and powerful over even the wicked rulers of the world. Far more influential and powerful than Hazawaris, far more influential and powerful than the US president currently is, or anybody else upon this earth, or anybody else who's ever lived. God's control is far greater than we imagine. One of the ways we could think about this is, well, you know, we may be very, very concerned with our new government coming in and new prime minister and other things like that, and we're not too impressed. But who really is king? Are the decisions of our current prime minister outside of the control of God? If we turn briefly to Proverbs 21 and verse 1, Proverbs 21, and verse number 1. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. Now, it's not that the king or the rulers are mindless robots. No, but the Lord is sovereignly controlling and guiding and leading history so that he will be honored and glorified and nothing, no matter what the intents of our rulers may be at this time, nothing is outside of the control of Almighty God. Why does God say to us so often, fear not? It's one of the most common things said in the Bible, fear not. Why? Because when we look at the chaos and confusion around us, and if we just looked at that and forgot about the sovereignty of God, we would get very panicky, wouldn't we? And we also have to think of, in terms of reach, where is Ahasuerus today? Where's his body? As powerful as he was at one time, as much as he's written about in history books thousands of years later, He's no longer among us, is he? His reign had an end. He's dead. But our God liveth forever and ever. Our God has no limits in terms of time, no limits in terms of location, There's no escaping God and his reach. So number one, the reach of this reign. Number two now, the riches of this reign. The riches of this reign. In verses three and four, we see that there's a celebration, a feast taking place. In verse three and four, in the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants. the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces being before him. Verse 4, when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty many days, even 104 score days. That's 180 days. Sometimes you'll see it in the news. All these different regimes, they want to be an empire. They want to be bigger. And what will they do? They will have maybe a parade with tanks and armies walking. So what are they trying to do? Look how powerful we are. A show of our might, a display of our power. Our enemies need to be afraid of us. Now, at the time, yes, they were a great empire. But this is a display, one of the displays of their wealth. Look at all the riches, and it says, verse four, when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom. When he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom. That's the same today, if you have a lot of money. If you're one of the wealthiest men in the world, what you say will end up in the news. And the person who doesn't have a lot of money, who may know a lot more than that person, doesn't get listened to as much. Money has influence. If you think of somebody like Elon Musk, I think he's worth over $200 billion today. He's probably one of the richest men in the world. If he took all the money that he had and put it in a room and said, look at all my wealth, Isn't it impressive? What if he bought and put that all into gold bars? Put it in a room. Probably wouldn't be able to fit it in this room, I'm not sure. And just look, look at my wealth. This is kind of what's going on with Hasuerus. He's vain, he's proud. Look at all that I have. He's looking for attention, isn't he? The kingdom is looking for attention. Look at our power, look at our influence. But what many people forget, they say, well, I earned that. I worked hard. It was my invention that made me that money. Well, what many people are forgetting around the world, many billions of people around the world are forgetting that all that wealth came from God. Even the person who never acknowledges God, it came from the sovereign, kind, and merciful God. See, no matter how wealthy you may get in this world, no matter how successful you may be, no matter how much people think you're amazing, we have nothing to boast in. Absolutely. Ahasuerus, in reality, had nothing to boast in. He might as well say, see all this wealth? I got it from God. And I can't bring it with me. I'll have it for a while, maybe. But even that wealth that was on display in Persia is tiny and puny, and I will even say embarrassing, compared to the riches of the glory to come. The riches of the glory to come are far greater. We said maybe you could fill this room, or maybe several rooms, but there's the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. There is infinite riches in Jesus Christ, no limit whatsoever. There's often the phrase that people will make sometimes when they get some of these very famous people, they reach a wealth and they'll say, I have made so much money that I could never, ever spend it. Well, they probably could spend it if they really put their minds to it. But here is a wealth, here is a glory, that truly has no limit. There is no border, there is no edge, there is no limit to the great riches that are found in Jesus Christ. If we turn to Romans 11 and verse 33, Romans chapter 11 and verse number 33, says this, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. But you see the way wisdom is described here, and the knowledge of God, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. And turn also to Ephesians 3 and verse 8. Ephesians 3. And verse number eight, which reads, unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. This is not just nice, poetic language. His riches are unlimited and not limited by anything. See, I wonder, are you maybe impressed with material wealth? You'll walk past a house and maybe it'll catch your attention, go, wow, that's a nice house. Or you see something, you see a car pass by, go, oh, that's a Porsche or something like that. And you get very impressed. Friends, that's nothing. That's absolutely nothing. compared to the riches of heaven. The kingdom riches, all the money, all the gold in all the world. Take all the richest men, take all the poorest men and put them all together and it's still but a drop in the bucket compared to the riches of heaven. See, what the unbeliever sadly does He exchanges the puny riches of this world, even the hazoeres of this world. They will exchange the puny riches of this world for the greater riches to come. Now there's a celebration taking place, and they're very, very happy with all that is taking place. The celebrations take place over 180 days. And then when those are over, they do some more. says in verse five, and when those days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present. But eventually, you would imagine, wouldn't you, they're going to get a little bit, the celebrations will end. You know, we're still celebrating this thing. It's, really? Recently at the Olympics, you'll see somebody who's just won a gold medal and they're so happy. They're over the moon, they're jumping around and it's so great and they're so happy. Could you imagine if they were still acting like that in 10 years time? I think, really? I know it's a wonderful memory that you have, but eventually that's just going to be a fading memory. That enjoyment that they have now, overwhelming that gold medal or whatever it is, it's going to fade. It's going to go away and become a memory. It's going to be put in a trophy cabinet and gather dust, and they'll tell maybe their grandchildren or whoever it will be in the future. The celebration ends. But the thing is, the celebration in heaven is never going to end. Ever. And that's the difference. The enjoyment doesn't fade. In 10 years, in 10,000 years, in 10 billion years, it will never, ever fade. The eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard the things which the Lord has prepared for them." Our third point, the refreshments of this rain. The refreshments of this rain. So from verses 7 to 9, it says this, or verses 7 and 8, and they gave them drink in vessels of gold, the vessels being diverse one from another, and royal wine in abundance according to the state of the king. And the drinking was according to the law, and none did compel. For so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house that they should do according to every man's pleasure. There's a picture, a fairly common picture, in the Bible of wine. And wine gladdens the heart. Wine gladdens the heart. Just look at one verse from Psalm 104. Psalm 104 and verse 15. Psalm 104 and verse number 15. And wine that maketh glad the heart of men. and oil to make his face to shine, and other things as well, it says, and wine that maketh glad the heart of man. And you can also see many references in Song of Solomon that the love of Christ, is what Song of Solomon talks about, is better than wine. There's a picture here that wine gladdens the heart. Even, I think I was reading one time, Of course, we should drink in moderation. Heavy drinking is wrong. But in moderation, it makes the heart pump a little bit faster. Now, what's this? What does this kind of remind us of? Now, this is a place of pleasure, delight. Heaven is a happy place, isn't it? Heaven is a happy place. And where is the place of foretaste of heaven? The public worship of God, the church. I think we forget that. We often, probably in the West, because maybe shrinking churches and different things like that, we forget, we can be very doom and gloom at times, that we're supposed, we're not supposed to be happy, but if we're thinking about heaven and if we're saved and that's our home, why wouldn't we be happy? Now, of course, in this world, we're in the midst of a difficult and trying war. The world, the flesh, and the devil, it is a difficult war. War has gone on for thousands of years. And that war between the seed of the woman, Genesis 315, and the seed of the serpent. And war has casualties. And war is difficult. So we often don't feel like. Many times, we all don't feel like delighting in anything. But on a warm, sunny day, it's hot. What do you do? You need refreshment. And you go get a bottle of water. And it's delightful. They are enjoying wine here. This is wine given by King Hazoerus at the time. What's also interesting as well in verse 8, it says, none did compel. And the drinking was according to the law. None did compel. In the ancient world, and today, There was a lot of pressure put on people to drink more. It was like if you left, they would do something to you on the way out. This is like thousands of years ago. There was that pressure, that social pressure as well, to have to drink in excess. There was none of that here. Because once you get beyond too much, you have a problem, don't you? There's the misery of going to excess just the right amount. And beware, friends. The Bible is very clear and warns about drunkenness. It doesn't warn about drinking alcohol. It warns about drunkenness, that the drunkard shall not inherit the kingdom of God. It doesn't mean that we can't fall into sin as believers. What it does warn about is the person who is given over to particular sins. And drunkenness is one of them. But there's delight in this feast, this great refreshment. But it's nothing compared to the refreshment of heaven. In Jeremiah, a number of places, God is called the fountain of living waters. Refreshment. And so all these pictures throughout the Bible, what are they trying to do? They're trying to show you the comfort, the reassuring refreshment that comes from God. So this, I'm sure it was to a degree enjoyable. You know, according to every man's pleasure. But let us not think that as we come to biblical Christianity, oh, it's all doing those fun things. You see all those fun things? You can't do those anymore. It's not true, friends. A foretaste of heaven is doing those things that are wonderful and pleasing to the soul. It actually satisfies us. That's the difference. The world can't satisfy us. Only God can satisfy the weary soul. We will not find rest until we find rest in him. A fourth point is this, the righteousness of this reign. The righteousness of this reign. Now, this reign is lacking. not just in its reach, not just in its wealth, not just in its refreshment, but also in its righteousness. Ahasuerus, he wants to bring out his wife and wants to parade her and show her off. around other people. He's been inflamed by wine, and he has been inflamed with pride. In verses 10 to 12, it says, on the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehumen, Bistah, Harbanah, Bigthah, and Abathah Zethar, Carchus, and the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Osiris the king to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown. Verse 12 then says, but the queen Vashti refused. And this is a major theme in this first chapter. She refused, and it caused a big stir, a big controversy in the empire. Now, it is good, before we comment on Ahasuerus' behavior here, it's good for a husband to speak highly of his wife, to love her, to cherish her. And the same for a wife towards her husband. But in Husbands and Husbands Must Lead Their Wives, Any authority can be abused. Any authority can lead to being oppressive and pretty cruel. We, if we are in positions of authority, husbands, fathers, elders, whatever the position of authority, we must make sure that our example does not make it burdensome horrendous even, for others to follow our lead. I know we say we don't want anybody in a lot of ways to follow our lead because we think you don't want to follow me as an example. But in a lot of ways, we do learn from example. Vashti refuses this unrighteous and this vain and proud command. He wasn't taking into account her well-being. And often we learn best, don't we, from example. I don't know about you, but the Christians I have learned most from over the years, they're not people who told me lots of things. You gotta do this, you gotta do this, and when you're done with this, you gotta do this. They were often the people who said the least. But you saw their lives. You saw the, there was something about their lives that was so attractive and peaceful and, dare I say, even happy, but they were godly people. And you were going, you were just observing and watching how they interacted, whether that was husbands and wives, fathers and children, mothers and children, whatever the relationship was, you were thinking, and I was thinking as an early Christian, I want to learn from that person. And they probably don't realize how much I learned from them over the years. But if we're not like that, if, for example, it's unattractive like it was for Hazoras, it's going to make it a lot harder for people to want to follow, isn't it? Now, was she right? Now, just because the king was sinful and wrong and proud, it doesn't necessarily follow that her behavior was good. There's one commentator, Thomas McCree, said this. He said, instead of making a modest excuse or sending a soft answer, which turneth away wrath, she gave a flat and preemptory refusal. Again, Ahasuerus was acting poorly, rashly, And if we're told to do something by somebody in authority, that's clearly sinful. We are to refuse, absolutely. But we have to ask in a response, is it the right response? And that depends on the situation. And those can be difficult situations. I also don't want to be too critical of her, because it's very easy to look back at history and look back, oh, she should have done this, and he should have done this. At the same time, we should be seeking, if we're citizens of a country, Vashti was a citizen of the Persian Empire, we should all seek to be the best citizens we can be, short of sinning in our submission to the state. That's the type of citizens we are to be. And whatever other relationships in which we do need to submit, that we would do so until we are called on to sin in so doing. Now, wonderfully for us, Christ's reign is different from Hazareth's. What he commands us to do is always good. It is always wise. perfectly righteous, unending and unchangingly so. Kings and all those in authority must rule righteously. If we don't rule righteously, what happens? Tyranny. Cruel and oppressive government. Harsh unjust and unfair sentences. Why? And why do we see it in our own land? Why do we see it here in England? Why do we see it here in the United Kingdom and farther afield? Because we have rejected the right rule of righteousness. We have rejected Jesus Christ as the King and head not just of the church, but he's also the head of state as well. This brings us to our fifth and final point, the respect of this reign, the respect of this reign. You see in verse 14, and the next unto him was Karshina, and Shethar, and Admitha, Tarshish, Merez, Marshina, Mamukin, and the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king's face, which sat It sat the first in the kingdom. They could see there was this kind of almost embarrassment in the face of the king. How can I rule this kingdom if I can't even rule my own home? Again, not forgetting that Ahasuerus' conduct is not a model behavior. It is not good. But at the same time, what's happened? This threatens the respect for authority in the empire. Look at verses 16 and 17. Here's the advice the king is given. And Mamucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti, the queen, hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes and to all the people that are in the provinces of the king Ahasuerus. So they here in this meeting, they saw this as not just a threat to him, but to the entire stability of the empire. Verse 17, this deed of the queen shall come abroad, that is over a wide area unto all women. so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported, the king of Hasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him. But she came not." Now, it's amazing when you look back over thousands of years of history, not even the church, even wicked empires, This was a wicked empire, pagan empires. They saw things from the light of nature, of the need for male headship in the home. They saw that if this was taken away, society would crumble. It wasn't that long ago that we knew this, even in our own land. Male leadership and headship is despised today. It is despised inside and even sometimes outside the church, but certainly at times inside the church. And not just by women or anything, it's often men. The struggle we have since the fall is we don't want the responsibility. We don't want to lead, many a times. For women, there's times when they will try to usurp authority. I'm talking about specific, certain women at certain times. There's an order of creation that the Persians saw. And they saw, if this is upturned, if this is changed, it will threaten the stability of the entire structure of society. Verse 18, likewise shall the ladies of Persian media say this day unto all the king's princes which have heard the deed of the queen, thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath. There was much they got wrong, of course. It was a pagan society, pagan values, vain and proud in so many ways. But there was something that they saw. Any of these empires, they see the big focus on the family. The big focus on that structure. And none of us are perfect fathers who are fathers here. None of us are perfect husbands. Or none of us are perfect leadership, whatever leadership. It could be leadership at work, whatever that is. God's word is there to teach us. It's there to teach us. We have, myself included, much to learn. In the reign of Ahasuerus, his decree is published. In verse 22, it says at the end of this verse that every man should bear rule in his own house and that it should be published according to the language of every people. This was so important, they felt, to the structure and the stability of the empire that it was published in every language that no one would misunderstand. Friends, we have a far, far more important empire, a far more important kingdom, in fact, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ's kingdom. We live in a day where there's not much respect. for the Lord and his rule. And we live in a day characterized by chaos and confusion. The remedy is always the same, a turning unto the Lord. We can change around a lot of things in politics and all sorts of other things, but unless and until we've turned unto the Lord, the problems that we currently have in our society will continue to grow. In conclusion, our text shows a bride, Vashti, who rejects her husband. The husband no longer finds her pleasing. Vashti, it says, verse 19, if it please the king, let there be a royal command from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, that Vashti come no more before the king Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. That is better than she. So someone, we have a bride here. rejects the law of the King, no longer pleasing before the King, and there will be a chosen Queen who pleases Him. We have been brought into the bride of the great King of Kings and Lord of Lords, not because we deserve it, but by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Do we have anything to boast in? Absolutely. Not ourselves, but the riches of Christ, the righteousness of Christ. And friends, let us live it out so that in our own spheres, whatever influence we have, that the respect for that kingdom would be even seen in our homes. I know none of us are perfect, but let us seek to do these things. by God's grace. And may the Lord bless us in what we learn as we go through this book. Amen.