FBC Morning Light – April 11, 2022

Well, a good Monday morning to you, starting off a new week, Passion Week, it's often called.

Yesterday we celebrated Palm Sunday and working toward Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday next week.

I just want to remind you of a special service we have at our church on Thursday evening at 7 o 'clock.

We call it a Maundy Thursday service. In that service we read the

Scriptures related to the night before the crucifixion, the Last Supper, and then up to the point of the crucifixion.

We read the Scriptures together, we commemorate the Lord's Supper, we sing some hymns, have a devotional, and the whole service lasts about an hour.

That's Thursday night at 7 o 'clock. It's just a good service to prepare our hearts for the celebration of the resurrection, because the celebration comes after the very somber experience of the

Last Supper and then, of course, the crucifixion. That's coming up Thursday evening.

If you're in the Sterling area, I hope you can make that special service at 7 o 'clock on Thursday night.

As promised, today and tomorrow we'll probably wrap up our discussion of the book of Esther.

Obviously, there's so much more that could be said. If nothing else,

I hope that these few devotionals on the book of Esther have gotten you to think a little bit more about this book.

Oftentimes, the book of Esther is presented in a, I don't want to be too critical, but almost a superficial way that presents

Esther as a super -spiritual heroine, and Mordecai as a great man of God.

But when you look at the book of Esther, you discover that neither

Mordecai nor Esther could be considered paragons of spiritual virtue. There's no evidence that they prayed, there is evidence that they were really kind of worldly.

Their names, for example, reflect not their Jewish heritage, but reflect growing up in a pagan culture.

They took on pagan names. What we're emphasizing in this book is that God, in his grace and in his mercy, will be faithful to his covenant that he has made with his people, and he will deliver in that faithfulness to his covenant even when his people really aren't worthy, aren't deserving of it.

That's the emphasis of this book. You see the sovereign hand of God working behind the scenes.

His name is never mentioned, he's never referred to, he's never called upon in the entire book. The only hint that maybe he's prayed to is when

Esther calls for a fast, but it just says fast for three days.

It doesn't say anything about praying. They may very well have and probably many of the

Jewish people did, but you have to assume that it's not clearly presented as such.

Today, what I want to look at is maybe something that will encourage you in a great way in our current cultural, political climate.

It seems that everything is working against a conservative biblical position on all kinds of things – morality, abortion, etc.

Those in government don't seem to have much use for, I'm talking generally speaking here, especially in the higher echelons of government in the

White House and so forth, don't really seem to have much concern about what does God have to say and what do we have to do with him.

If there's any thought, we don't have anything to do with him. Consequently, believers, Christians, can feel marginalized and can almost come to a point of despair, thinking that the future is very bleak for God's people.

But what I want us to see in these closing chapters of the book of Esther is that God in his sovereignty can turn that around on a dime.

For example, one day, on one day, all of the Jews throughout the entire kingdom of Ahasuerus are dreading the end of the year, if you will, because Haman has established this day in which all the

Jews are to be executed, and they know their days are numbered. They see no hope, they have no hope, they're living day after day in times of fasting and mourning and weeping over their plight, over their fate.

But in a matter of a couple of days, all of that turns completely around. This comes out in chapter 8, when

Esther holds that second banquet, invites the king and Haman to that banquet, and she pleads for her people.

She says, there's this decree that all of my people are to be executed. The king says, wait a minute, what do you mean?

What are you talking about? Who's responsible for this? She points out, Haman is responsible for that.

In these first 12 verses of that chapter, chapter 8, everything turns.

What was certain doom has now turned to gracious favor from the hand of the king.

When the king finds out that Haman is responsible for this, and the people that are intended to be executed, the king says to Esther, do whatever you want to save your people.

He says in verse 8, you yourselves, speaking to Esther and Mordecai, you yourselves write a decree concerning the

Jews as you please in the king's name, seal it with the king's signet ring, for whatever is written in the king's name and sealed with the king's signet ring, no one can revoke.

They do that very thing. Notice how one of the ways the

Lord preserves and protects his people in this hostile world in which we live is by turning the heart of the king and granting favor to his people in the heart even of a pagan king.

That's not the only thing the Lord turns around. He not only turns around the heart of the king, but he turns around the hearts of his people.

Notice in chapter 8, verses 15 through 17, how the previous experience of mourning has been turned into a time of feasting.

Mordecai, it says in verse 15, went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white.

Remember, he had been sitting near the gate in sackcloth and ashes.

He's now in royal apparel of blue and white. He's got a crown of gold and a garment of fine linen, purple.

The city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad, whereas just the day before, everyone was in a time of mourning.

It says in verse 16, the Jews especially had light and gladness, joy and honor.

In every province and city, wherever the king's command and decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness.

The Lord, in his sovereign grace, can turn our mourning into joy and feasting and gladness.

He can do so very quickly in sometimes the most surprising and unique ways.

I want us to take courage and encouragement in that and take comfort in that, because right now, even in our culture, there's a lot that can be disturbing and distressing to us and cause us to be mourning greatly.

But let's not forget, our God is on the throne. He also turns fasting into feasting.

In chapter 9, verses 20 to 22, it says,

Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews near and far, who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, to establish among them that they should celebrate yearly on the 14th and 15th days of the month of Adar, as the days of which the

Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, from mourning to a holiday, that they should make them days of feasting and joy and of sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor.

Here is the historical record of the establishment of the

Jewish feast of Purim. The end of the chapter says,

Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the king in verse 30, with words of peace and truth, to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed time, as Mordecai the

Jew and Queen Esther had prescribed for them, and as they had decreed for themselves and their descendants concerning matters of their fasting and lamenting.

God, in his sovereign grace, has turned their days of lamenting and fasting into days of joy and feasting.

This is what our sovereign God can do, as he works behind the scenes.

His hand is nowhere directly evident in this entire book, but he has been, every step along the way, showing himself in subtle ways, orchestrating events, to lead to the end of the book, where mourning is turned to joy and gladness, where fasting is turned to feasting.

This is our God, who works graciously and mercifully in behalf of even his most undeserving people.

When we come back tomorrow, I'm going to take some time to go through, in reverse order, the ways in which

God shows his sovereign orchestration of events. I hope you'll come back tomorrow to catch that.

Let's give thanks to our sovereign God. Our Father and our God, we do thank you today for your sovereign power, for your sovereign control, and for your mercy and for your grace, that you don't deal with us as our sins deserve.

You do work mercifully and graciously in behalf of even your undeserving people.

Thank you, and we praise you for it. In Jesus' name. Amen. All right.