Esther 5:1 Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, over against the king’s house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house.
2 And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre.
3 Then said the king unto her, What wilt thou, queen Esther? and what is thy request? it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom.
4 And Esther answered, If it seem good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him.
5 Then the king said, Cause Haman to make haste, that he may do as Esther hath said. So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared.
6 And the king said unto Esther at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.
7 Then answered Esther, and said, My petition and my request is;
8 If I have found favour in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition, and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and I will do to morrow as the king hath said.
How do you approach a difficult situation. The Bible shows us that lost people are often quite unreasonable. Flattery is a common method of breaking down the unreasonable nature of the person. The question is, what is the key to a specific person’s nature?
Esther used two things to get to king Ahasuerus. She used “eye candy” and she used liquor.
The Bible has much to say about the detrimental effects of alcohol. The first mention of alcohol is found in Genesis 9. There is nothing good to be seen in that event. In the book of Proverbs God warns of the true nature of liquor and the effects of liquor on the person who consumes it. Those who use liquor know that this is true, even though they reject the Word of God. Liquor is a mind altering drug. The purpose for using it is to affect the mind.
In our text Esther began her approach toward the king with “eye candy”. The king was the highest human instrument of rule in that nation. Canada does not have a king, but Canada is also not an independent nation. We are still under British rule. We need their permission to hold an election.
The Persian empire was a large empire. The king was given massive power by the people. The empire was not a democracy. The king was not elected. However, the people still had to give the king permission to take power. Lost people do not realize the danger of submitting themselves to a godless system until it is too late. Over time, people come to accept the loss of individual privileges.
God created man to be under His rule. Adam had the best opportunity man could ever have, until he chose to defy God and put himself under the devil’s influence. Jesus declared that you cannot serve God and mammon.
For the most part, even for those who know this statement exists, most people do not accept that statement to be true. The Bible shows us that man is always better off when he submits to God as his authority. Canada is a failed system because it was built on a secular foundation. God has been merciful to us as a nation. We have not quite fallen to the state that Germany was in prior to and during the second world war. We are not far from there now.
The Persian empire was not a free society. The people had subjected themselves to a vain man as the head of their nation. They were also willing to allow that vain man to dictate morality for the entire nation. Mordecai and Esther, chose to submit to this vain man’s idea of morality. This was an utter shame.
There is a saying something like: ‘go along to get along’. That was the system that I was raised under. As an adult, and after getting saved, I began to see that this system does not honour God and thus is not a blessing to man. True Christians do not live by that philosophy.
In our text, Esther had been raised with that philosophy and she had perfected it as a young woman. She knew that she needed to present herself to the king in an acceptable manner if she wanted to break him down. She dressed in a manner that she knew the king would appreciate. Everything that she did was to please a human ruler. She did not know the true God and thus her focus was on pleasing a man.
The nation of Israel had long ago lost sight of truth. In the closing days of the prophet Samuel, the nation came to him demanding a king like the nations around them. God stated then that the problem was that Israel had rejected Him from ruling over them. From that moment things went further downhill for the nation. God gave them some reprieve during the reign of David and Solomon. Before king Solomon died, the nation was already in big trouble. They did not realize it, but the Bible shows us this was true. Mordecai and Esther were living in exile because their forefathers had not turned back to God. Mordecai and Esther had the same opportunity to turn to God that others like Daniel had. They chose not to turn to God. They followed the majority.
I suppose there could have been some pride in Mordecai’s mind to think that his cousin, whom he raised, had become the queen of the Persian empire. There is no benefit to kiss the feet of a ruthless ruler at the expense of knowing the true God. Daniel had much greater influence over the Babylonian and Persian empires than Esther could have. The kings who reigned during Daniel’s life, were affected for good. King Ahasuerus never gained any insight into the importance of knowing the true God.
Esther began by dressing in a way that would catch the attention of the king. She then invited the king and his top man, a Jew hater, to a banquet of wine. She knew that liquor was a very effective tool to loosen the mind of this king. What a sad state of affairs. Esther rejected God’s counsel.
Habakkuk 2:15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
Esther could have known this fact, but she was far too accommodating to take God’s Word into account in her dealings. From a godless perspective, we see that Esther’s plan was successful.
King Ahasuerus fell for this ploy. He was not a wise man. He was easily manipulated by a woman and by liquor. A godly woman is to be a help meet for the man she marries. Esther was not that. She never learned how to be that and she was not open to be trained in that manner. There was no one close to her that could help her. She was not innocent. She had put herself under the direction of a man who did not know the Lord and had no interest in knowing the Lord. As a child she had little choice. Having said that we can go back to the days of Naaman. We read that during that time, the Syrians had captured some Jews and among them was a young girl. This girl ‘happened to be’ a servant to Naaman. This young girl knew the true God and her captivity did not erase her faith in God. She was unnamed but she was noted for her faith in the true God. She had a great impact on Naaman.
Esther could have chosen a different path. God shows us what happens when people that have been privileged with a greater opportunity reject that great opportunity. She was able to gain the attention of the king at this moment. It would appear that she would gain a victory through her method. What the world will not see in the book of Esther is that God is obviously at work even when a nation does not know Him and even when those who should know Him, choose not to know Him. God made a promise to Abraham, and He was continuing to work His will. Those who are saved should be encouraged that God was in control of the affairs at that time, and He is still in control today. The important point that was missed in the time of Esther, was that the Jews did not turn back to God through the events that took place in that time.
It seems to me that we, those who are claiming to be saved, do not seem to see how God was still on His throne during the Wuhan virus affair and He is still on His throne today. It is high time for us to speak up and to show the world that we actually believe in the true God. We need to take the words of Peter and John much more seriously than we currently are:
Acts 4:19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
We, those who are saved today, have been saved for such a time as this. Let us humbly submit to our Saviour and Lord and shine brightly in our time.
Pastor Bartel