Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale · Transcript · · Updated
She Stands | Doug Sauder | Esther 4:4-5:3 – Transcript
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so last week in Esther chapter 3 the story took a dramatic turn Esther was the queen it was the happily ever after or so we thought and now this happily ever after story is not so happy because her people her Jewish people 15 million people have been sold to genocide you see her own husband the king signed an order that allowed every Jewish person in all of Persia to be
killed and incentivized all the people that would kill them to take all the plunder for themselves this is one of those moments that you sort of go what do you do it's sort of paralyzing but here's here's how life goes life goes like this no matter what happens high and low that the next day is going to come and you have to turn the page and you have to keep on going and Esther's going to have to to lead through this because as of Esther
chapter 4 the whole edict and what's happened and all the Jewish people are informed this genocide is coming she still doesn't know that it's happened because she is behind the Gates of the palace enjoying the luxury of her life in her gated community and she has not yet experienced the real pain of the world and I say that we're in Esther chapter 4 this week and Esther chapter 3 last week not by coincidence but by a godance God has a way to move and work
just like in the Book of Esther his name is never mentioned he he puts us in these places to realize that when we read the Bible and when we read the news I mean the only difference between Hamas and hmon is one letter but anti-Semitism has been around for a long long time and it helps us to weigh and understand oh wow this is even more spiritual than I thought and how do I process this and so let's look and see how God is going to
put Esther into this moment where she's going to have to make a decision Esther 4 verse 4 now when Esther's Unix and female attendants came and told her about Mori she was in great distress she sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth but he would not accept them then Esther summoned hathak one of the king's Unix assigned to attend to her
and ordered him to find out what was troubling morai and why so hath went to morai in the open Square of the city in front of the king's gate and Mori told him everything that had happened to him including the exact am amount of money that hymon had promised to pay into the Royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews he also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their Annihilation
which had been published in Susa to show to Esther and to explain it to her and he told him to instruct her to go into the king's presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people Esther's living her life living her best life and she hears like your uncle Mori your adopted dad that that guy you always talk to he's in in the middle of the Public Square wearing sackcloth and Ashes
wailing mourning and she's sort of distressed sort of alarm like my my pops is distressing I don't know why and so she sends out one of her Messengers one of her Unix ha and he comes and gives this message like well we brought some nice clothes from the pal dress yourself like like sort of embarrassing everyone like what's the big deal and Mori is ready because he can't go past that Palace gate but he has the edict this edict was signed your people
have been sold for this amount of money on this day you're the only person who can stop this and now Havoc has to run back this is an old form of texting this is going to go back and forth like three or four times right haic is the is the is the iPhone he's going back and forth and back and forth so he's gonna come back and give the message back to Esther and so when ha went back and reported to Esther what Mori had said then she instructed him to say to morai all the
king's officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner Court without being summoned the King has but one law that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and Spares their lives but 30 days have passed since I was called to go to the
king what Mori is asking ask to do is is a risk she has a lot to lose and you sort of get an idea this is not a Disney fairy tale she hasn't seen the king in 30 days it's not like they're husband and wife and talking about their day hey babe how is your day how can I pray for you let me rub your feet let let's have a conversation she hasn't seen him for 30 days that doesn't mean it's because Xerxes has been celibate he has hundreds of other sexual concubines she's just
she wasn't on his list for whatever reason for the last 30 days and and she knows there's a distance between her and him and she feels the sense of dread it's not like she could just walk up and go hey let's have a conversation no to walk into his Royal Court Uninvited meant death and she knew her husband he was temperamental she knew what he did to Queen vashy when when she didn't do exactly what he expected in front of all
his boys and she has a real sense of fear Mori dad you're asking me to walk into what is a potential death sentence and so she sends this message back to haic and now he's going to give this message to Mori now Mori is going to give him a message back to Esther now when Esther's words were reported to the to Mori he sent back this answer do not think that because you're in the King's
house that you alone of all the Jews will escape for if you remain silent at this time relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place but you and your father's family will perish and who knows but that you have come to your Royal position for such a time as this and you're like that's that's the line that's the line of the Book of
Esther that's the money line and it is it it invites Esther to step into a Divine moment it it invites her to know that there's a purpose in her life now here's the fascinating thing about morai morai is confident that God is going to rescue the people even though he has no reason to believe that there's no evidence that says God's going to rescue these 15 million people when they have no power no Army no military no organization they
they have nothing to depend on except except God but Mori he knows the story of Exodus he knows the story of Hebrew history that there was several million slaves and they cried out for 400 years and God heard them and sent a deliverer named Moses and Moses delivered them and he's like The God Who delivered them is the god who delivers now and I'm confident that no matter how bad this looks Our God will deliver us right that's the faith of morai he expresses
that faith and and this is the the beautiful thing about Mori morai has raised Esther her name was hadassa he raised her as his own daughter he taught her the stories of of the Bible of the Hebrew history and and and now he's calling her to this moment he's saying who knows that you have been called to this Royal position
for such a time as this he affirms her and then he pushes her he affirms her because he's he's saying think about all that's happened in your life think about all these things and how they might be for this moment I mean I mean think about the fact that your grandparents were taken away in Exile from Babylon or from Jerusalem to Babylon think about the fact that your parents died you think about the fact that that I adopted you and raised you as my daughter think
about the fact that God Made You Beautiful think about the fact that that that the king he banished his Queen and did this beauty contest and you won the beauty contest because God had favor on you have you ever wondered what all that was for and maybe Esther this whole time has been thinking like I'm this queen and I have this beautiful palace and all these servants I wonder what all this is for and Mori is saying something very specific to her that that's a that's a word for all of us that that there are
people and people can give you power and position but only God can give you purpose and he's he's causing her to think like what is the purpose of all of this and maybe it's for this moment in time and so she's about to be challenged in a new way and and here's the thing about morai morai is not asking her to do something
that he wasn't willing to do first I mean remember the last chapter Mori refuses to bow down to H because he knows hmon is an evil man and he he does that on the threat of his own death but he just says I'm just I'm not going to bow down to that person even if I have to die and and his courage is going to inspire Esther in new ways and that's that's what happens courage courage is contagious and so what is Esther's response to this challenge well verse 15
then Esther sent this reply back to Mori haic getting tired going back and forth Esther sent this reply so go gather together all the Jews who are in Susa and fast for me do not eat or drink for three days night or day I and my attendants will fast as you do and when this is done I will go to the king even though it's against the law and if I perish I perish so Mori went away and carried out
all of Esther's instructions and you know after verse 17 all you see is this white space between chapter 4 and chapter 5 and that white space doesn't tell you what happened in those three days but let's just use our imagination for a second why is she going to spend three days praying and fasting she already knows what she's
going to do she already decided even though it's against the law and even though I might die I'm going to go to the king and if I die I die so so why is she praying why is she fasting why is she asking this entire Community to pray and fast well there's something about that that should make us curious why would why would she do that because those
three days aren't just to make a decision they're not just wasting time no in that waiting she's praying for courage she's strengthening her resolve I know what I'm about to do is the biggest risk of my life and there's going to be part of me that doesn't want to do it so I'm asking to pray for strength I'm asking for my courage to be summoned I'm asking for wisdom I'm asking for what words I speak and and and God's good timing for how I speak them and and what's going to happen as
Esther walks out of this time of prayer we don't know what exactly happened but you're going to watch her in the chapters to follow in chapter five in chapter six in chapter seven she's going to sort of walk with the sense of calm this sense of ease as everyone else is sort of chaotically trying to figure out what to do and how to control everything she just sort of walks to the sense of dignity and and trust and composure and
wisdom and in chapter five after her time of prayer she gets dressed and she dresses to the nines because she's about to see the king and she knows if she dies that day at least she's going to look good so let's look at chapter 5 verse one here we go on the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner Court of the palace in front of the king's Hall the King was sitting on his Royal throne
in the hall facing the entrance and when he saw Queen Esther standing in the court he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand so Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter then the king asked what is it Queen Esther what is your request even up to half of the kingdom it will be given to
you and this is that moment she opens the door and he's facing the hall and maybe he's making this big decision maybe he's about to go to war he's talking to all of his advisers and and women are not allowed in the court during this time and she steps up and she's dressed and catches his eye and God gives her favor so surprised I haven't seen my queen for 30 days let me extend the scepter and see what she wants she comes up and he he says what king say back in the day they didn't
mean up to half my kingdom Kings did not mean that that's the thing they said to show how generous and benevolent they were if if you asked for half the king would probably cut you in half you know that's not really how it worked um but that's what Kings say in other words to say hey whatever you want what what do you want and now it's her moment right and and what she gonna say she GNA say you're so naive and so ruthless and so out of touch with reality do you know you ordered the death of 15 million