Esther 7:1 So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.
2 And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? and it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom.
3 Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request:
Est 7:4 For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king’s damage.
Est 7:5 Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?
Est 7:6 And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.
Life goes on. When man makes plans outside of God’s counsel, things are pretty shaky. Haman had a plan. There were already signs that this plan was not coming together the way he planned it. Esther also had a plan. She was going to continue her plan. King Ahasuerus was in the middle of it all. Why had Esther called this second banquet. Why were only the king and Haman invited to these banquets. While these people were scheming, God had a fail proof plan. That plan was first revealed to man in Genesis 12. God never breaks His promises. Israel was and is His chosen nation. He has never whitewashed their sin. The Jews have suffered much through the centuries because of their rebellion against the LORD. There are many, many Jews in hell today as there are also many, many Gentiles.
God chose the nation of Israel to be the object lesson of His power, wisdom, and love. He blessed them abundantly. He provided protection and safety for them. The problem is that Israel failed to appreciate God’s special care for them. They failed to appreciate the privilege granted to them to be able to show the world the greatness of God. They are still suffering today because they refuse to repent and know God’s mercy and grace. There is a very simple solution, but they do not want it. They are too “wise” to accept God’s Word.
As we look at this, we see that the Gentile world is no better off. We have not learned anything from the struggles that Israel has faced. We have the Word of God just as they do. We can read and study the Bible, but most professing Christians are content to seek out individuals who will tickle their ears. God directed the apostle Paul to warn about this in II Timothy 4. God also warned about this through His Old Testament prophets. Six times God pronounces a woe on different sins in Isaiah 5 alone. There are many other places that warn of the danger of defying the true and living God.
In verse 3 of our text, Esther was finally ready to tell the king what was on her mind. She began by wondering if she had found favour in the king’s sight. She wanted to make sure she had his sympathy. She then asked for her life to be spared along with the life of her people.
In verse 4 she informed the king that her people had been sold to be destroyed. Haman had paid a large sum of money into the king’s treasury in order to get his agreement on his wicked plot. Esther continued to state that if they had been sold to be slaves, she would not have raised the issue. However, this was not the case. They were to be destroyed.
In verse 5 we read that the king was quite shocked by these facts. Esther had been secretive about who she was, and she assumed she would just coast through life by accepting pagan practices. God was not going to allow that to happen. The king wanted to know who would ever come up with such a plot. The king had granted Haman permission and royal ascent to his wicked plans. The king was so vain that he did not look into what Haman was planning. His mind was too clouded by all his drunkenness. He could not be bothered with running a clean and true empire. Now he was being shown the result of his carelessness.
Esther did not hesitate to reveal the source of this trouble. She was quite blunt about it. We know this was not just her assessment of the situation. She labelled Haman for who he truly was. He was the enemy. He was a wicked man. There is no point in sugar-coating evil. There has been too much of that over the years. Esther had accepted evil herself in allowing herself to be treated like some toy to be grovelled over. She subjected herself to joining with a man in adultery. However, this current event was more than she was willing to accept. Finally, when her life was on the line, she was willing to speak up.
Haman was not afraid before the king and the queen. He had been quite confident up to this point. He thought he was a special man. He thought he could work his way further up the ranks with the king. The Bible warned of those who would curse His people. He warned that He would not allow that to go unchallenged.
We have been studying the book of Ezekiel in our Wednesday evening Bible Study. We are currently looking at God’s response to the Gentile nations that were rejoicing in the judgment that He was bringing upon Israel and Judah. Those pagan nations should have trembled at their own sinfulness before God. Rather, they assumed that the God of Judah was no better than any other gods.
God told Ezekiel to warn them of the dire consequences of their misplaced rejoicing. Some of those warnings have already been fulfilled and others will be fulfilled.
God warned the nation of Israel that He would punish them if they rebelled against Him. He does not take any pleasure in having to chasten His people. He does not take any pleasure in the death of the wicked. God would much rather bless Israel. He would much rather bless the Gentile nations as well.
We have just learned that Mr. Trump was not blowing hot air in threatening to impose tariffs on Canada. Our government has no idea of how to respond to this new reality. They assume they can fight back and come out on top against big brother. We have a P.M. who has legalized illegal drug use for a long time. Now he claims to be concerned about the illegal drugs going across the border. He has tried to shut down the oil and gas industry and now he wants to use that as a weapon against the U.S. He had wanted Canada to switch everything over to electricity and yet the east exports much electricity into the U.S. He has ignored the need to be self-sufficient because he is a globalist. He is preparing the unsaved masses in this country to receive the antichrist. He will be the ultimate globalist. In the meantime, we the citizens of this country, will likely need to do some belt-tightening. His foolishness will not likely hurt him. He is well protected as are a few others who are close to him. However this is not the end. He will face the God of Creation one day and he is not prepared for that meeting.
Canada has assumed for years, that the U.S. would protect us because we are so nice and we are their closest neighbours. The U.S. is hurting financially and the last four years have almost brought that nation to her knees. They are scared and they are trying to find a way to fix the mess they are in. Canada is also in a big mess. Neither country wants to listen to God and realize they are in big trouble because we have rejected the true God. This current trade war will not fix the problems we are facing. It will hurt us all, financially. Those who have larger bank accounts may ride out the storm a little longer, but it will affect us all.
Those who are saved have the answer. The answer is to repent toward God and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Canada and the U.S. are not invincible. If I understand the Bible correctly, both nations will be wiped out eventually. The focus of God is on the Middle East. That has always been His focus. We should have been learning from the trouble in the Middle East, but instead we have taken a careless approach to the rise of Islam and a wrong approach to Israel.
The blessings that God wants to give us cannot be bought with money. Bitcoin will not solve the problem either. There are big investors who talk big and they think they have the answers. Money cannot buy happiness nor can it buy peace.
In our text, king Ahasuerus had money. He had power, yet he was a troubled man. Esther had surrendered to a wicked system and a wicked king. She was married into money, but her life was being threatened. Haman had money and had been able to work his way into favour with a wicked king. He did not care about that because he too was a wicked man. Power and money were his gods. He would do what he needed to do in order to gain more of that.
These three along with Mordecai and the Jews in the Persian empire could have known God’s peace, but they assumed they knew better. God was not finished here yet. His promise to Abraham was sure. It would be fulfilled.
Today is the Lord’s day. The Lord’s house will be open today. There will be room for all to come and learn the truth. The lost will be given another opportunity to hear the truth, if they choose to go to a true church and listen to the Word of God. The saved will be blessed in being reminded of the goodness of God. God is gracious and good. He has true Bible-preaching and teaching churches in various places. It is important to be as the wise men of old who looked for a star. We are not looking for a new Messiah. We know Who He is. He has declared that He will build His church. His church is not an invisible, secretive thing. It is born again individuals who have been changed in heart, and soul, and mind by God through the new birth. Since He has changed us, we want to serve Him. He expects His children to be in His house on the Lord’s Day.
The wise will listen to the Lord and come to know His greatness today. Where will you be?
Pastor Bartel