The enemy of God's people overthrown

Text Esther 7 Time 02/02/14 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We are looking at the Book of Esther. It is a story from the period when the people of God were exiled in Persia and tells how King Xerxes right hand man the evil Haman took offence at Mordecai the Jew and got the king to pass a law that all the Jews in all the empire should be put to death. We come this week to the chapter where the villain Haman is exposed and put to death. His overthrow comes about through Mordecai's cousin Esther who God has made Queen following the deposing of Queen Vashti.

We have spoken about Haman at length already and we have seen that he is an evil man, right up there with Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin and Pol Pot. He is the arch anti-semite and because the Jews are God's chosen people he is typical of the arch enemy of God's people the Devil himself. We have said that God's enemy has honour and seeks honour but we who believe must not honour him and we have spoken of the nature of his opposition, an opposition that is full of hatred, superstition and deceit and that relies on the complacency of others. It is usually efficient and organised.

Here in Chapter 7 we see this arch enemy defeated and overthrown and it is a reminder to us that (as Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 15:25) Christ must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. Every enemy, every foe will eventually be subdued under Christ including the devil himself. The chapter teaches us to see that and to wait patiently until that time comes.

We want to say four things then

1. Patiently wait until the time of deliverance

The Jews had fasted and prayed and Queen Esther had gone to the king on their behalf and he had held out his golden sceptre to her as a sign that her request would be accepted. She wisely did not reveal what was her concern at first but asked only that the king come and dine with her and that Haman, his prime minister, be invited. Even at that banquet she continued to pique the king's interest by requesting only that there should be another just like it, which the king agreed to. And so Chapter 7 begins

So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther, and as they were drinking wine on that second day, the king again asked, Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.

All this while, of course, Haman has been feeling more and more confident that all is well. At the end of Chapter 5 he says I'm the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow. But in Chapter 6 he comes unstuck and his wife and friends conclude Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him - you will surely come to ruin! It is as they are telling him this that the king's eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Esther had prepared.

He is still ignorant of how dangerous a position he is in and how very soon he will fall as he sits down with the King and Queen. Then in verse 3 we are told Queen Esther answered the king's question - If I have found favour with you, O king, and if it pleases your majesty, grant me my life - this is my petition. And spare my people - this is my request. Such a statement can only have brought the king's interest to boiling point. For I and my people she continues have been sold for destruction and slaughter and annihilation. Haman had offered the king money you remember to expedite the slaughter. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, Esther adds (more to highlight the dire situation than anything else no doubt) I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.

And so we come to the point where the people will surely be delivered. It has taken a long time. There has been much prayer and fasting, much fear and trepidation. Esther has been so careful and cautious. But now the point of deliverance is at hand. She unburdens herself to the king on behalf of the people and that leads to their salvation.

It is a reminder that God's people will ultimately be delivered and that the Devil cannot win. In Revelation 20:10 we read of how the devil was thrown into the lake of burning sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet his allies had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Already the devil has been hurled down to earth by the death of Christ on the cross and a loud voice in heaven says Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. (Revelation 12:10,11). Soon, however, Satan will be completely overthrown and God's people will be gathered to God in heaven.

As Paul reminds believers our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Each day it gets a little closer. What we need to do is to be patient until that day. Twice in Revelation we are told This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. Let's be patient then as Esther was patient until our salvation comes.

2. Patiently wait until the enemy of God's people is revealed

King Xerxes question follows and it is an obvious one. Up until this point he is genuinely aware of the answer. He was as much aware who Haman was as he was that Esther was Jewish. And so in verse 5 we read King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, Who is he? Where is the man who has dared to do such a thing? Who would have the audacity? The answer comes in verse 6 Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this vile Haman. If the king had not seen this coming then clearly Haman was even less aware. Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen we read. What a shock it must have been to know that the queen was Jewish and that his plot was known.

What a shock it will be for Satan too when he is exposed for what he is. And that day will come. Be in no doubt. Much is hidden and kept in the dark now but one day all his evil machinations will be exposed. Even before then more and more people are realising just who is behind the evil things that happen in this world. The devil is a master of disguise and he does all he can to cover up his evil doings. However, one day he will be exposed for who he is. In Luke 8:17 and 12:2 Jesus warns us that there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open and There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. Do you watch or read detective stories? The trick is that you don't know who did it (if it is done well). Often the criminal is not obvious. We have had this case in Italy where the two accused (Knox and Sollecito) were first found guilty then acquitted and have now been found guilty again. Who knows the truth? God does. One day we will all know the evil that Satan has wrought.

3. Patiently wait till the end for nothing can go right for the enemy of God's people

We are told that on hearing the news The king (7, 8)

got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realising that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life. Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?

We have noted how full of strange providences this book is. You almost feel sorry for Haman at this point as he is at least innocent of this last accusation. However, he knew the etiquette of the court and that the harem was carefully protected. Did he think his charm was so great that he could somehow win Queen Esther round? Some people do not know when they have lost. As anticipated by Haman's wife and friends, the wheels are now in motion that will lead to his destruction. He cannot save himself.

Mistakes are sometimes made. You think a person is drunk – they're having a stroke. Remember the man with the table leg under his arm and they thought it was a sawn off shotgun and they shot him. Here Haman is a sort of King Midas in reverse, Midas with a curse – everything he touches turns to dust. This is always going to be the way with God's enemies. Sometimes it is simply more obvious than at other times.

Perhaps the most obvious example of this is the cross when Christ died. It was Satan who entered into Judas so that he betrayed Jesus and clearly Satan was moving in it all to bring about the death of an innocent man. No doubt he thought he had won a great victory when he saw Jesus on the cross but that was far from being the case.

Paul reminds us in Romans 8 that everything works together for the good of the people of God. The corollary is that everything works for evil against those who are not the people of God. Even what they think is for their good works against them in the end. Haman thinks pleading with Esther will win him some respite. It does not, it only hastens the end for him. It is a sign of his doom. If you follow him, nothing can work for your good.

4. Patiently wait for the enemy of God's people to be destroyed

We read then that

As soon as the word left the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face. Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, A gallows seventy-five feet high stands by Haman's house. He had it made for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king. The king said, Hang him on it! So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's fury subsided.

The very instrument that Haman had designed for the death of his enemy Mordecai was the means of his own execution in the end. What a warning that is. There is a phrase in Hamlet about a man being hoist by his own petard. The petard was a notoriously unreliable war machine that used gunpowder. The evil man lights the fuse intending to kill others and ‘Kaboom!’ - he blows himself up! Here is a warning, then, that is found in several places in Scripture, including Proverbs 26:27 If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it; if a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him. A man digs a pit to catch someone else and falls into it himself or tries to roll a stone onto someone else and it rolls back onto him. Haman builds a gallows (or whatever it was) for Mordecai and dies n it himself. The biter is bit. For all their efforts, those who oppose Christ and his people are self-defeated.

The greatest example of this is again the cross itself. Do not oppose Christ; rather flee to him. Otherwise, it will be your undoing. The rolling stone picture reminds one commentator of the Sisyphus myth in which the ancient King of Corinth was condemned to spend eternity rolling a stone to the top of a hill only to have it roll down again. It is more reminiscent of those who thought that sealing and guarding a stone rolled into the groove of a grave entrance could prevent it rolling back again to their hurt as it revealed the empty grave of the risen Christ.

Paul encourages his readers at the end of Romans (16:20)

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

We ought to be encouraged too if we are Christians tonight. What is that verse from Isaiah 54:17 again?

No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me, declares the LORD.