Pride & Destruction, Death & Deliverance (Esther 3:5–15) — Esther: The Invisible Hand of Providence

If you would, this Lord's Day, as we continue in our series through the book of Esther, turn with me to Esther chapter three in this week, verses five through 15.

Again, as we continue our series through this book, we come to one of the darkest moments within the narrative, a moment when one man's wounded pride escalates into a plan for genocide against the people of God.

Again, today we're in Esther chapter three, verses five through 15.

Hear the word of the Lord. And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was

Haman full of wrath. And he thought scorned to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had showed him the people of Mordecai.

Wherefore, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai.

In the first month, that is the month of Nisan, in the 12th year of King Ahasuerus, they cast poor, that is the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the 12th month, that is the month of Adar.

And Haman said unto King Ahasuerus, there is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom, and their laws are diverse from all people.

Neither keep they the king's laws, therefore it is not for the king's prophet to suffer them. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed, and I will pay 10 ,000 talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business to bring it into the king's treasuries.

And the king took his ring from his hand and gave it unto Haman, the son of Hamadathah, the

Agagite, the Jew's enemy. And the king said unto Haman, the silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them as it seemeth good to thee.

Then were the king's scribes called on the 13th day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king's lieutenants and to the governors that were over every province and to the rulers of every people of every province, according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language.

In the name of King Ahasuerus was it written and sealed with the king's ring. And the letters were sent by post into all the king's provinces to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish all

Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the 13th day of the 12th month, which is the month of Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey.

The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people that they should be ready against that day.

The post went out being hastened by the king's commandment, and the decree was given in Shushan the palace, and the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed.

Thus ends the reading of God's holy word. May he write it on our hearts by faith. Thank you, God. Amen.

The last week we examined the ancient enmity between Haman and the Jewish people, how this conflict stretched back centuries to the

Amalekites and how earthly conflicts often reveal deeper spiritual realities. We saw that Haman as an agagite inherited a hatred that had been passed down through generations.

And this week, we'll witness how God through his sovereign providence uses even the evil intentions of his enemies to accomplish his purposes of deliverance.

Now, here's something crucial to understand as we work through this passage. We are reading this account thousands of years later, right?

So we can see the invisible hand of God at work in it. We know how the story ends. We understand the doctrine of providence that the

Westminster Confession articulates so beautifully for us that God ordereth all things to fall out according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently, right?

We know all these things. We can see where and how God is using the actions of these people for his purposes of deliverance.

But the people living through these events didn't have the same perspective that we do, right? So it's important that we maintain that understanding.

They couldn't see what God was doing behind the scenes. All they could see was a powerful man's rage and a king's thoughtless decree.

And their only hope in the midst of it was faith, right? Faith that God would not forsake them. And so again, bear that in mind as we work through this, that Mordecai, Esther, Haman, Ahasuerus, and all of Persia even have no idea how exactly

God is working. They only are able to go off of what they see. And the faithful among them have to trust

God with the rest. And frankly, it's not too dissimilar from how we need to live today, right?

We only see so much, and yet we trust God with the rest. And yet, this is the heart of what we're going to explore today.

God is working in Persia, and he's working today using even Haman's sinful choices for good.

The very schemes that are meant to destroy God's people would become the means of their deliverance, amen?

And so our main idea today is this, that unchecked pride, right? Sinful, unchecked pride transforms personal offenses into devastating campaigns of destruction.

But God's hidden providence works even through the schemes of the wicked to accomplish his purposes of deliverance.

So let's look again at verse five. We see one man's refusal to just deal with it or to accept an offense sparks genocide.

Again, verse five. When Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was

Haman full of wrath. Think about this scene for a moment, right? Day after day,

Haman walks through the king's gate. Day after day, everyone bows before him, everyone except for one man.

Mordecai remains standing. And this refusal consumes Haman. It's not enough that everyone else, 99 .9

% of the people honor him, that one man's refusal has become unbearable to him.

Matthew Henry says it so well on Haman's pride here that pride is a sin that is its own tormentor.

It makes men their own executioners. Pride cannot rest. It can't be satisfied.

Pride demands total, absolute submission. And when it doesn't receive it, pride becomes furious.

But we notice how quickly Haman's fury escalates. Looking at verse six. He thought scorned to lay hands on Mordecai alone.

For they had showed him the people of Mordecai, wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai.

And this is how sin works. Again, particularly pride here. One man refuses to bow and Haman decides that millions have to die.

One perceived slight and suddenly genocide becomes the only solution. Again, Henry writes that a little thing will serve to kindle the fire of revenge in a proud and malicious spirit.

A little thing will serve to kindle the fire of revenge in a proud and malicious spirit.

So when you see somebody dealing with a situation like this, right? Or any situation where their pride maybe is offended and then they respond with an unjust or an unequal weight and measure in response to the person, we can assume pretty safely that there is an unhealthy amount of pride at work here.

And that revenge is being sought because this is a proud and malicious spirit. Right, we see this pattern throughout scripture, throughout history.

Cain's wounded pride leads to Abel's murder. Saul's jealousy of David leads to years of murderous pursuit.

Herod's insecurity leads to the massacre of infants in Bethlehem. Pride, when it's nursed and cultivated, grows from personal offense to a mass cruelty.

Pride is so pernicious, right? And we're all guilty of this to some degree or another, but someone offends us or doesn't meet our expectations or puts us in a difficult position.

And instead of working through it humbly and honorably, we justify ourselves, right?

We convince ourselves that we've been wronged. And then we look to tear down the other person.

And this is just pride within us. Perhaps we don't plot genocide. I hope we don't plot genocide, but do we plot revenge, right?

Do we withdraw our love? Do we withhold forgiveness? Do we gossip and slander, seeking to destroy someone's reputation because they wounded our pride?

The difference between us and Haman may be one of degree, but it is not one of kind. How does wounded pride operate in our lives?

When someone doesn't give us the respect that we think we deserve, how do we respond to them? When our authority or ability or decisions are questioned, when our opinions are dismissed, when our contributions go unacknowledged, what happens in our hearts?

It happens far too often. And even within, maybe most notably within the Christian church, because it's where it shouldn't happen, but someone is offended that someone else didn't, you know, quote unquote, respect them enough.

And the answer is that of Haman, that that person has to be destroyed, not of grace or love or forgiveness.

But pride can't tolerate being ignored, right? Pride can't endure indifference.

And unchecked pride will always escalate the conflict beyond reason. That's what we see in Haman.

And that's what we must guard against in ourselves. And I'm sure we've all seen this within others around us, you know, over the past, you know, however period in your life,

I'm sure we've all seen people being unnecessarily offended by things and then using that to try to destroy somebody, almost bewilderingly so.

Now, we watch how Haman moves here from rage to action.

The verses seven through 11. He moves from rage to action very quickly.

His hatred doesn't remain abstract or it's not theoretical hatred. It organizes itself systematically.

And we can identify four distinct stages in how evil consolidates power kind of in these few verses and pursues its purposes.

And honestly, we have a lot to learn here even in how evil so quickly organizes itself for action, right?

We have things to learn here, not for the purposes of evil, but for the purposes of righteousness. But notice the way in which evil moves in these verses, these five verses, the way that Haman moves for his intended goal.

And let's in some ways learn from that behavior in organizing ourselves for righteous purposes.

But the first stage we see in verse seven, superstition cloaks wickedness. Verse seven tells us in the first month, that is the month of Nisan in the 12th year of King Ahasuerus, they cast poor, that is the lot before Haman from day to day and from month to month to the 12th month, that is the month

Adar. So Haman uses divination, right? Casting lots to determine the timing of his evil plan.

He's giving his wickedness a veneer of divine approval. And this is actually, you know, very similar to our law homily today, you know, from the third commandment that though obviously in this case for Haman, it's obviously in an explicitly pagan sense, but Haman is pretending, right?

That is he is vainly appealing to his gods, that they are guiding his decision, right?

And this is how evil often works. It cloaks itself in religion or mystical practices to make wickedness seem righteous.

Does that make sense? Evil works in this way, it cloaks itself, it pretends that it's religious or mystical to hide the fact that it's evil and to pretend that it's righteous.

How often have people, you know, parroted Bible quotes, for example, while trying to justify the acceptance of sodomy or religious pluralism or illegal immigration or endless wars in the

Middle East, to name a few, right? Evil rarely presents itself as evil. And to lesser degrees, we do this as well.

How often have you or someone that you know justified your failures with religious veneer? Oh, I'm not doing my job that I'm paid for or spending time with my wife or children, being present with them, because I think

God has called me to this other work. You know, even good things sometimes will justify it with. Oh, I'm reading all these books because I think

God's preparing me for something. In the meantime, I haven't seen my wife and children since their last birthday, you know?

But this is evil, right? Just to a lesser degree, at least in our minds, to a lesser degree. But when they take you away from your commitments, right?

When we start putting religious veneer on these other activities and they take us away from our commitments, these vows that we've made before God, whether it's our marriage or with our children, we're just whitewashing our sin.

You're taking the Lord's name in vain to justify your abdication. Again, that's what evil does.

It rarely presents itself as evil. It wraps itself in the garments of piety and it claims heaven's blessings.

This is what Haman is doing here, right? We can dismiss Haman because he's obviously a pagan. He's not a

Christian, not a Jew at this time, right, and dismiss it and not see the point that he's putting a religious veneer.

He's saying that I have divine approval for what I'm doing to these people. So that's stage one, superstition, cloaking, wickedness.

Stage two of how this develops so quickly, we see in verse eight, the truth is twisted. Haman goes to the king with his proposal and we listen to, again, how he describes the

Jewish people. Verse eight, Haman said unto King Ahasuerus, there's a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom, and their laws are diverse from all people.

Neither keep they the king's laws. Therefore, it is not for the king's prophet to suffer them.

We notice what Haman is doing here. He takes the distinctiveness of God's people, their covenant calling to be separate and holy, and he twists it into grounds for accusation, right?

The Jews are scattered people. They're scattered throughout the empire. Their laws are different, and they have maintained their distinct identity within Persia, but these are features of the

Jewish people, not flaws at that time. God had called them to be a light to the nations, not to assimilate and to disappear and just meld into whatever they are.

Haman takes truth and he distorts it for his purposes. He presents their obedience to God as disloyalty to the king.

He frames their distinctiveness as a dangerous diversity. In his evil and his malice, he turns this good thing that God called his people to into a cause for their destruction.

Evil uses their obedience against them. Again, we see this pattern today, don't we?

Christians who maintain biblical convictions are accused of being intolerant, right?

Churches that uphold scriptural teachings are labeled as hateful. Believers who refuse to bow to cultural idols are dismissed as divisive.

At the end of the day, what is it? It's truth is being twisted and faithfulness is being reframed as extremism.

They're using your obedience against you because they're trying to break you, right?

They want you to stop obeying. They want you to stop trusting God because how could God let them use your obedience against you?

They want you to question God. Why isn't God blessing us for obeying him?

Why isn't he protecting us for obeying him? Instead, God's letting them use my obedience as the cause to destroy me.

That's what they want you to think. They want you to doubt God's goodness. In Massachusetts, they tried to pass a law that you couldn't foster children if you didn't support certain trans ideologies and support gender affirming types of care and teaching.

If you didn't vaccinate, if you don't do these certain things, right? That these requirements that they have for you and Christian parents, foster parents, believing themselves to be in obedience to God to not succumb to those things, they are having this opportunity, this ministry taken from them to not be able to care for these children because they're trying to break you.

They want you to doubt. God couldn't possibly not want me to take care of this child. He wants me to take care of this child.

So I must do this. I have to give in. They want you to doubt. But the truth is that we have to see that that is part of their strategy against us, is to use our obedience against us.

They know how we intend to live because it's written in the Bible. And so they're gonna create laws and create hurdles that we have to jump through and over in order to do the things that we wanna do within our society.

And they're gonna create those laws in such a way that contradicts the scripture on purpose because they want you to break.

They want you to give in. They want you to doubt the goodness of your God. That's the aim of evil, ultimately.

It's the same thing that the serpent did, right? As he deceived the woman in the garden. We read that in our old covenant reading today.

It takes the truth and it twists it. It distorts it to make you doubt God's goodness. Now, stage three.

Evil, we notice again, it's organizing itself here entirely, but particularly we see in verse nine that it's financing itself.

And this has, I think, an interesting application in our time. Again, Haman continuing, verse nine.

If it pleased the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed. And I will pay 10 ,000 talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business to bring it into the king's treasuries.

10 ,000 talents of silver is an astronomical sum of money at that time, perhaps equivalent to two thirds of the

Persian empire's annual revenue. It's blood money at the end of the day. Haman's willing to use enormous wealth to accomplish his murderous purposes.

Again, evil doesn't just organize ideologically. It organizes itself very practically, economically even.

And throughout history, evil has not operated merely through ideology or rhetoric, but through the strategic deployment of financial resources.

And this pattern persists very much in our day today. We consider how billionaire, someone like George Soros, for example, has systematically funded organizations and political movements that undermine traditional

Christian values and intentionally destabilize societies. Through his open society foundations and related entities, he's poured billions into campaigns that promote moral relativism, that erode national sovereignty, that attack biblical

Christianity and traditional values. And we even had, in this past year, we've seen all the controversy with USAID, right?

This organization or this governmental entity that's created for supposed humanitarian purposes has been weaponized to advance ideological agendas under the guise of aid.

And not just here, but all around the world. These agencies funnel taxpayer dollars to non -governmental organizations, those

NGOs, that operate with almost no accountability, often promoting policies contrary to the values of the people who are paying for it.

This isn't anything new. This is the strategy of the enemy. The economic machinery of evil in our time mirrors

Hayman's ancient scheme in disturbing ways. Again, just as Hayman used enormous wealth to purchase permission for genocide, modern actors use financial leverage to buy influence, they silence opposition, and they advance destructive agendas.

Hopefully, this is gonna be happening a lot less in the future. But again, many of these

NGOs engage in what can only be described as fraud. We've seen in Minnesota just this past month, money being poured in through these government programs to places where it's all about fraud.

They claim charitable purposes while actually serving as vehicles for manipulation, political manipulation, and social engineering.

Again, this doesn't just happen in the United States, it happens all over the world from our money. At the end of the day.

But they accept government grants and philanthropic donations, and then they use those resources to advocate for policies that undermine the family, that promote sexual immorality, and ensures that those who oppose it face economic consequences.

This is why we, as Christians, have to be incredibly discerning about where our money flows and what it finances, recognizing that behind many of these seemingly benign organizations lies the same mechanisms of organized wickedness that Heyman employed, using wealth as a weapon to accomplish what their rhetoric alone cannot achieve.

And what's more, why we have to be serious about financing goodness and righteousness is also caught up in this, right?

We have to be not only playing the defense to not finance their schemes, but we have to be on the offense to finance those things which are going to promote truth, goodness, and beauty in our world.

We need to see the value of investing in those types of projects that promote truth, goodness, and beauty.

The evil around us is not afraid to finance itself against us. We need to be willing to finance ourselves against them as well.

That's stage three. Again, we have stage one, evil cloaks itself in superstition. Stage two, it twists the truth into a weapon for its purposes.

And stage three, it's putting its full weight, financially and otherwise, behind its agenda. And that leads into stage four.

And that's really where evil has just taken the reins of the situation. We look at verses 10 through 11 and see authority once again within Ahasuerus abdicating itself, abdicating responsibility.

Ahasuerus responds to this proposal from Haman, again in verse 10. The king took his ring from his hand and gave it unto

Haman, the son of Hamadathah, the Agagite, the Jew's enemy. And the king said unto Haman, the silver is given to thee, the people also to do with them as it seemeth good to thee.

No investigation, no questions, no concern for justice. The king just hands over his signet ring, the symbol of absolute authority in the empire.

And he tells Haman to do whatever he wants. This is the danger of rulers who make decisions without wisdom or concern for righteousness.

By giving Haman his ring, the king is essentially giving unlimited power to him to do whatever he wants, to accomplish whatever wickedness his heart desires.

And so we note the pattern, that evil cloaks itself in religious language. It twists the truth to serve its purposes.

It organizes its schemes financially and otherwise. And then it thrives when those in authority abdicate their responsibility to pursue justice.

Anywhere along the way here, I want you guys to notice, anywhere along the way, Haman's plans could have been thwarted, right?

But there is no one righteous there to stop him. Hashuares could have stopped it.

As far, as much as Haman was plotting this evil in his heart and willing to pay for it, it could have been stopped by a righteous king.

It's important for us to note, especially as we continue in the book of Esther, towards the end of the book.

And we wonder why it's important that we have righteous rulers in our land again. But I digress.

So again, we have to learn to recognize these patterns in our world. We have to be discerning enough to see when wickedness is disguising itself as virtue, when the lies are dressing up as truth, and where our leaders are failing to protect the vulnerable.

We need to learn to see these around us and we need to step in to stop it when we can, right? Whatever that might look like, whatever our station might allow for, whether it's parents, politicians, or pastors.

If we don't, we don't step in to stop evil and unrighteousness when we see it happening, right?

The evil will continue and it'll grow because it always does. Now, as we continue verses 12 through 15, having received the approval of the king, let's see how efficiently now this plan, this evil plan is executed by Haman.

Verse 12, then were the king's scribes called on the 13th day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king's lieutenants and to the governors that were over every province, and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language in the name of King Ahasuerus was it written and sealed with the king's ring.

The bureaucracy of evil springs into action right away. Scribes are summoned, documents are prepared.

The decree is translated into multiple languages. Couriers are dispatched throughout all the 127 provinces of the empire.

The machinery of destruction is operating with a remarkable efficiency. Just like they did in chapter one when

Ahasuerus divorced Queen Vashti, they are prepared to let the whole of the empire know of another horrific decree.

And the content of this one in verse 13, the letters were sent by post into all the king's provinces to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish all

Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the 13th day of the 12th month, which is the month

Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey. So we notice the comprehensive nature of this hatred, not just the men who might pose a military threat, not just Mordecai, the original source of the offense.

It's young and old, women and children, total annihilation, complete genocide.

This is the depravity of hatred when it's given official sanction and unlimited power.

This is why, like we talked about last week in considering the fights of our fathers and our responsibility to fight today where God has us is so critical.

Because if we don't, evil is not content to just have us. Right, they won't be happy just to destroy us and our generation.

It wants our women, it wants our children, it seeks to destroy utterly the people of God.

And when you're dealing with an enemy like that, you have to be willing to do the same. And so this decree is published and all the people according to verse 14.

And then finally we come to verse 15 and we see the striking contrast that the post went out being hastened by the king's commandment.

And the decree was given in Shushan the palace and the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed.

Millions of lives are now hanging in the balance and the king and Haman sit down to drink.

Perhaps there's hosting to their success. Perhaps they're celebrating the coming destruction. But as Matthew Henry notes on this verse, drunkards abuse their reason and they make themselves sport with the most serious and sacred things.

They've made light of what is the most serious and sacred thing that you can do and that is to decide to take someone else's life.

It is no big deal to them. But the city is perplexed.

The people are confused, disturbed and troubled. And why? Because when you haven't completely seared your conscience, when you haven't totally given yourself over to evil, injustice bothers you, right?

Genocide should trouble you. The arbitrary condemnation of an entire people perplexes you.

This is the contrast that we see. The powerful are celebrating while the vulnerable are facing destruction.

And those who issued the decrees drink wine while those under the decree face death. Callousness at the top and confusion among the people.

And in many ways, especially in light of everything that's been coming out, I think regarding our government of late and what looks like honestly, satanic ritual and practice among the political elites of our society, these murmurings of aliens.

If our government tells us that, they've been consorting with aliens, please know, I know most all of you know, they're consorting with demons.

But so they tell us that we know, right? They're lying to us. They're consorting with demons, right? But in many ways, it really, it represents, or Haman represents to us that demonic influence over a government, right?

He is a picture of that. He is those aliens, those demonic influences over the king.

And the confusion that that creates among the governed. I think that if you spoke to a good number of people, the rank and file people of our society and our country, less the ones whose consciences have been seared, that being the woke left mob, the

Marxist mob of our country. Most people would express a level of confusion if you explain some of the decisions that our government has made over the past 10 to 15 years, right?

They're confused by it. They don't understand why these are the priorities, why we're doing this. Why is our government seem to want to do this and have no issue with it, right?

They're sitting back and enjoying drink while we're all confused by the policies that they're enacting.

Even illegal immigration, I think it's 80 % of the country wants to see illegal immigrants sent out.

And yet our government is like, actually they're torn about it, right? Why? It's creating confusion among the people because the government sits and just says, this is what it is.

We're gonna sit back and enjoy ourselves while everybody is confused about something that seems so utterly clear.

This is very much what we're seeing happen here with Haman and with Ahasuerus and the people of the city.

They're confused that their politicians are sitting back and taking leave of their senses.

And it's creating a great sense of confusion in the city. Again, when injustice becomes entertainment for the powerful, righteous people have to be confused.

We as Christians need to be perplexed, need to be troubled by an unrighteous government.

And what's more, we have to be moved then in that confusion, not just sit in that confusion, but to be moved to faithful action, right?

And we notice that these don't seem to have all been Jews that were confused, right? It's the people of the city, the people generally.

And I think, again, this is true even today, that many people around us who don't know Christ are still confused by the evil around us.

I think the trans stuff over the past 10 years especially reveals this. People who aren't Christians are confused and totally against some of these things.

We need to be willing to speak into that confusion with truth and clarity that only God can provide.

And in that, perhaps, we would draw more unto himself. So when we see laws passed that celebrate sin, condemn righteousness, right?

We can't simply shrug our shoulders and just carry on with our lives. When we see the vulnerable exploited and the innocent condemned, we can't remain indifferent.

When wickedness is organized efficiently and evil operates with the sanction of authority,

God's people must be perplexed. And in that, we must be driven to our knees in prayer and moved to faithful labor and witness in the world around us.

Now, in all of this, everything we've seen here in chapter three, it's very dark chapters. The darkest part, really, of the narrative of Esther.

Haman's pride, his organized evil, the king's complicity, the decree of death, the callousness of power, it's all deeply troubling.

And if this were the end of the story, we would despair, rightly, right? Or if we were in it, we would understandably be despaired by the circumstances that God has placed us in.

And in many ways, again, this feels like where we're at in our society today, or it can. But here's where we need to step back and see what was happening beneath the surface.

Remember, God's name is never mentioned in the book of Esther, and yet his providence in it is unmistakable.

And so if we look carefully, we can see him working even through Haman's wicked schemes. Go back to verse seven.

We see Haman cast lots, the poor, to determine the timing of the massacre. And the lot fell on the 12th month, the month of Adar.

And now remember, though, what month they were in when Haman does this. When did they cast the lots?

It was the month of Nisan, which was the first month. So they're in the first month, they cast lots. 11 months from now is when the decree establishes the date of execution.

If Haman had simply decided, right, in his own timing, or in his own mind and heart, when the execution would take place, he may have chosen next week, next month, as soon as possible, essentially.

But because he sinfully and vainly even used superstition, because he cast lots, he ended up setting a date nearly a year away from the date that he was able to get the approval for his plan.

And what does that 11 -month window provide? Provides time, right?

Time for Mordecai to mourn, time for Esther to learn of the decree, time for her to fast and pray, time for her even to risk her life by approaching the king, and time for God to orchestrate deliverance for his people and judgment even for Haman.

Again, Matthew Henry makes a profound observation. He says, God's providence works by the most unlikely means, the very lot which

Haman cast to destroy the Jews became a means for their deliverance by giving them time to prepare.

This is the doctrine of providence that we confess. Our Westminster Confession, chapter five, paragraph four, states that the almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in his providence that it extended itself even to the first fall in all other sins of angels and men, and that not by a bare permission, but such as have joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding and otherwise ordering and governing of them.

In other words, God doesn't cause Haman's sin, but he certainly uses it. Haman is fully responsible for the evil of his choices.

The guilt is entirely his own, but God in his sovereign wisdom orders even sinful actions towards his holy purposes.

God causes Haman to cast the lot to establish the date as opposed to choose it on his own. And he does that so that there will be more time for God to bring about deliverance.

But Haman is the one who brought his sinful vanity into it. Haman cast lots thinking he's determining when the

Jews would be destroyed, but in reality, he is setting the stage for when they would be delivered. He thought he was sealing their fate, but God was orchestrating their salvation.

And beloved, this is how God always works. He doesn't prevent every evil. He doesn't stop every wicked scheme.

But he uses even the schemes of his enemies to accomplish his purposes. Joseph's brothers sold them into slavery, but God meant it for good to save many people alive.

The Jewish leaders and the Roman authorities crucified the Lord of glory, but through that very act,

God accomplished the salvation of the world. When evil seems triumphant, when wickedness appears to be winning, when the machinery of destruction operates efficiently, and the decrees are issued and the future looks dark, and they even look like they're being blessed, even then, especially then, for the people of God, we need to know that God is at work in ways that we cannot see.

The Jews in Shushan could not see God's hand. All they could see was the decree and the date of their destruction.

But we, looking back, again, see the beautiful irony of it all, that the very lots that Haman cast became the instrument of deliverance.

The timing that he chose gave space for God to work salvation for his people. And then bear in mind, again, for God even to judge, to work judgment for Haman in the full destruction of the enemy.

The evil that Haman organized created the circumstances for a greater display of God's power.

This is why we must never despair, even when circumstances are dark, whether there's evil around us or even within us.

If we're struggling with health or whatever it may be, when it's hard and it's difficult and it's dark, we have to take heart in trusting in the goodness of our

God and the perfection of his timing, even when it seems delayed. His providence is at work, even when we can't see it, and his purposes will prevail, even if it appears like they are winning for a time.

So, as we close today, I want us to see how this passage points us toward the gospel.

Because Haman's plot against the Jews is a shadow of something greater. That's Satan's plot against humanity.

We've made allusions throughout our service today to the garden, we've read even the passage of the fall, to the similarities of Haman's work here in chapter three, to the serpent in Genesis three, because we're seeing that same pattern again in the cosmic warfare.

Haman's pride and fury picture Satan's hatred for God's people. Just as Haman couldn't tolerate

Mordecai's refusal to bow, Satan cannot tolerate a humanity made in God's image. Just as Haman sought to destroy all the

Jews, Satan seeks to destroy all who bear the image of God. The decree of death that went out against the

Jews pictures the condemnation that stood against us. Colossians chapter two at verse 14 speaks of the handwriting of ordinances.

Remember, what was sent out upon this decision is an ordinance to all the nations, all the provinces of Persia.

Paul chapter two of Colossians, the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us.

We were all under a decree of death because of our sin. The law demanded our destruction.

Justice required our condemnation. But just as there was for the

Jews in Persia, there is a one coming. Just as Esther would risk her life to intercede for her people, entering the king's presence uninvited, saying, if I perish,

I perish. So Christ, our mediator, gave up everything to intercede for us.

He bore the decree of death that stood against us. He suffered the condemnation that we deserved.

And as Paul continues in Colossians two, 14 and 15, the Lord Jesus blotted out these ordinances that were against us and were contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.

And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

This is the beautiful irony that we see in the book of Esther, especially as we continue in the weeks ahead.

The very gallows that Haman built for Mordecai became the instrument of Haman's own execution.

The scheme that he devises for destroying the Jews became the means not only of his destruction, but his entire household.

And just as the cross, Satan's great triumph, as he thought, became the very instrument of his defeat, through death,

Christ destroyed the one who has the power of death, that is the devil. And so while for the unbeliever, the schemes of the wicked are a cause for despair, for the

Christian, the schemes of the enemy cannot drive us to despair, but they must rather drive us to rejoice in the deliverance that we have received in Christ Jesus, and that we know in time will come in full on earth as it is in heaven.

And so, beloved, the book of Esther teaches us that God is at work even when we cannot see him, that he orchestrates deliverance even through the schemes of the wicked.

He gives time for his purposes to unfold even when destruction seems imminent, and he uses even evil for the good of his people in the display of his glory.

Haman cast his lots thinking he was determining the day of Jewish destruction. He didn't know that he was setting the stage for Jewish deliverance.

He couldn't see that his schemes would ultimately lead to his own downfall and to the exaltation of the very people that he sought to destroy.

And the same is true in your life today, that whatever schemes the enemy has devised against you, whatever decrees seem to stand against you, whatever darkness that you cannot penetrate,

God is at work. He is sovereignly ordering all things, even the sins of evil men, toward his holy purposes.

He is working deliverance even when you cannot see it, and he will be glorified, even through the very schemes meant for your destruction.

So guard against pride, recognize evil's patterns, trust God's providence, and be moved by injustice to faithful action.

And above all, remember the gospel, that the decree of death that stood against us has been canceled at the cross, and we who were condemned now stand righteous in Christ Jesus, our