The inevitable victory for God's people foreshadowed

Text Esther 6 Time 26/01/14 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

When a business fears there will be bad news in their annual report to the shareholders or when an enquiry is taking some time to reach conclusions, they will sometimes produce what is called an interim report. Rather than everything being a big shock later on, they try to give some idea of what is coming.

Something similar happens in schools where they try to get the pupils to do mock examinations before the finals – so that the end result will not come as a shock. Here it is different in that if the student is not working hard enough, a bad result in the mocks can give him the shock he needs so that he doesn't do the same thing in the final exams.

I want us to consider this evening Esther Chapter 6. Esther 6 does not tell us how the villain Haman was discovered to King Xerxes as the enemy of Esther and her people or how the King commands that he be put to death. That all comes in the next chapter. What happens in this chapter is that in a very obvious way Haman is humiliated and Esther's cousin and guardian Mordecai is exalted. It leads Haman's wife and advisors to feel that they have no choice but to say to him (13) Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him - you will surely come to ruin! They recognise this as the start of Haman's downfall and a sign that he was in a losing battle because he was trying to oppose the Jews, the people of God.

Why does this happen? You could take Chapter 6 out of the book and it would not really make too much difference. Most of the main parts of the story would remain. So why is it there? It is there because it is often God's purpose to show the truth in no uncertain terms before the end. It is like an interim report or the results of a mock examination.

God, the God who made all things, has purposed to have a people to himself, a people he will save to the uttermost through the one Saviour Jesus Christ. It is God's purpose to vindicate his Son so that every knee will bow to him and to vindicate his people so that all will one day know that they are his people who he loves and so they must be respected whatever people may think of them now.

Now God could simply do this by honouring them at the end - just as in this book once Esther has alerted King Xerxes to the plight of her people, he swiftly deals with the need. But what happens is that even before Haman's final defeat, God puts him through this ritual humiliation so that he is in no doubt which way the wind is blowing, where things are going – and, of course, to give Haman the opportunity to repent. When his wife and advisers said to him Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him - you will surely come to ruin! Haman should have listened. He shouldn't have wasted any time in going straight to the King and making a full confession. The moment he appeared at the banquet he should have gone on his knees and begged for mercy – but sadly he only got to that point when it was too late for him and it worked out in a way that simply hastened his death.

The lesson tonight then for us all is to stop and think. Realise that the downfall of unbelief has already started – there are signs of it, if you only look – you cannot successfully stand against the people of God. You will surely come to ruin if you do. Repent now, rather, and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, before it is too late.

What we have here is an encouragement to the believer and a warning to the unbeliever.

1. Consider the providences leading to Mordecai's exaltation and Haman's humiliation

They say that everyone and everything is only six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world. The claim is disputed but there seems some plausibility in the idea. In a similar way there are only some seven providences in this chapter that take us from a situation where Haman is nearest to the king, the second most powerful man in the empire, and Mordecai (who Haman is intending to have killed) is an anonymous and lowly servant of the king to the point where Haman is parading Mordecai around on horseback and honouring him in the most public way. If you had asked Haman whether this was possible, he would have said no and most others would have agreed, but it happened.

We are in a situation today where Christians are not very powerful at all. Perhaps they are among the least powerful groups on earth but God can turn it around in moment. It has happened in history. Take for example the turn around that came about in the Roman Empire in the year 313. At one time Christianity was an often persecuted, a barely tolerated religion, in the Roman Empire. Then suddenly with Constantine's apparent conversion everything changed – not all for the good but Christians were no longer persecuted as they once had been. Other examples could be given but they all anticipate the coming day when the tables will be turned completely and the saints will reign forever.

Let's consider these seven steps in Esther 6 then.

1. A case of royal insomnia

First, we read That night the king could not sleep. How often that happened we don't know. Some people are good sleepers, some aren't. No explanation is given as to why he could not sleep.

We know it wasn't too much coffee or jet lag. Was it something he had eaten or drunk? Was he in pain or was there some bodily or mental irregularity? Was there something on his mind? Were there noises near the palace? The truth is we don't know.

Indeed, there is a lot we do not know about the whole subject of sleep. Its purposes and mechanisms are only dimly understood despite substantial ongoing research. It is sometimes thought to help conserve energy, though that theory is inadequate as it only decreases metabolism by about 5-10%. Mammals require sleep, for example, even when they are hibernating. Like many things about us, we are in a lot of ignorance. In Psalm 127:2, however, it says In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat - for he grants sleep to those he loves. Sleep is God's gift. He can give it or take it as he chooses. Something worth remembering.

2. The choice of night time reading

I don't know what you do when you can't sleep. Watch TV, listen to music, go for a jog? What the king decided to do is this - he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. For many people, reading will get them to sleep. We are not sure here whether he thought this particular reading material would give him some pleasure or drive him off to sleep. Anyway, that is what he did. It was his own idea but no doubt God prompted him to it. Proverbs 21:1 says The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.

3. A forgotten incident recalled

Then in verse 2 we read that It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. This incident is referred to earlier in the book and must have happened some years before. We do not know how detailed the chronicle was and where they began reading but how interesting that in the providence of God Mordecai's name should come up. Nothing happens by chance. The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD (Proverbs 16:33).

4. The putting of a fair question

The king remembers the incident it seems though he has given no thought to it for some time. What honour and recognition has Mordecai received for this? he asks. Nothing has been done for him, his attendants answered. It is an obvious question for a king to ask. Why no reward was made at the time is, of course, another mystery but not one that is hard to imagine happening. People often do good things and are then forgotten. Following England winning the world cup in 1966 the manager was knighted and then a while later some players were given MBEs. It was not until the year 2000 that Alan Ball, George Cohen, Roger Hunt, Nobby Stiles and Ray Wilson were given the honour. There is a certain vagueness about earthly rewards and anomalies abound. You often hear of campaigns to get knighthoods for David Beckham, Ringo Starr or Eric Clapton.

5. A matter of timing

Next, things take an interesting and perhaps unexpected turn. Verse 4 The king said, Who is in the court? It is not immediately clear why he asks the question but we read Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had erected for him. And so (5) the king's attendants answered, Haman is standing in the court. Bring him in, the king ordered. No-one has forced Haman to go to the court. The fact that the king is about to honour Mordecai could never have been guessed. The fact that Haman has come to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had erected for him is just a massive irony that cannot but make us sit up and think. I think all ironies have this character. It is one of God's ways of waking us up to reality. C S Lewis called suffering God's megaphone – that is it is a way for God to wake us up. I think ironies, coincidences, work in the same way. It is God's megaphone, his whistle, his siren or klaxon. I have a book at home called Beyond coincidence an international best seller (authors: Plimmer and King). It relates over 200 stories of amazing coincidences.

• Two sisters in Alabama decide, independently, to visit each other. En route, their identical jeeps collide and both sisters are killed.
• Laura Buxton, aged 10, releases a balloon from her back yard. It lands 140 miles away in the backyard of another Laura Buxton, also aged 10.
• A British cavalry officer was fighting in the last year of World War One when he was knocked off his horse by a flash of lightning. He was paralysed from the waist down. The man moved to Vancouver, Canada where, six years later, while fishing in a river, lightning struck him again, paralysing his right side. Two years later, he was sufficiently recovered to take walks in a local park when, in 1930, lightning sought him out again, this time permanently paralysing him. He died soon after. Four years later, lightning destroyed his tomb.

One of the authors tells how he went for a job interview as a journalist many years ago. The editor in Yeovil wanted to test his general knowledge and so he pulled out a book and choosing religion at random asked him 10 questions. He didn't do very well. The next week it was an interview for the Bucks Herald in Aylesbury and quite a different place and interview but at the end this editor also decided on a general knowledge test. He too pulled a book of the shelf and at random chose 10 questions on religion – the same 10 questions!

These writers talk of a cosmic "yes".  I prefer to speak of God's megaphone but it cannot be denied that these things make us think.

6. A response fuelled by pride

We read next (6-9) that

When Haman entered, the king asked him, What should be done for the man the king delights to honour? Now Haman thought to himself, as he would Who is there that the king would rather honour than me? So he answered the king, For the man the king delights to honour, have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king's most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honour, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, 'This is what is done for the man the king delights to honour!'

We don't know what answer King Xerxes might have expected but that sounded good enough to him. What a mess our pride can get us into. Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall says the proverb (16:18) and When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom (11:22). There are many stories that teach the lesson. In Aesop's fables there is the story of a cockerel that had won a great victory over another cockerel and so stood very proudly on the farmer year gate only for a fox to come along and snatch it to eat. In the story of tortoise and the hare it is the hare's pride that makes him think he is bound to win. I like the story of the school girl who was sure she would win every prize including the essay competition. But that year the subjects were happiness and friendship. As she knew very little about either she couldn't win the essay prize and so it went to someone else. Another proverb tells us that God mocks proud mockers but shows favour to the humble and oppressed. We see it here.

7. A command with some ignorance in it

The king did not know that Mordecai was Haman's mortal enemy. I'm sure that he would not have asked Haman to do what he asked of him if he had. But, in God's providence, he was ignorant. Ignorance is a powerful thing in certain contexts. Do you know Sophocles' Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex? It is an amazing play all about irony. In one place the tragic hero Oedipus says “Upon the murderer I invoke this curse - whether he is one man and all unknown, Or one of many - may he wear out his life in misery to miserable doom!” He is cursing the man who has brought a curse on his city for killing his father and marrying his own mother. He is ignorant of the fact that he himself is that man and he is cursing himself. The audience, on the other hand, knows the situation just as we know the truth about Haman and Mordecai. There is a sweet irony for the believer then to read of how the king commanded Haman (10)

Go at once, … Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for wait for it Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended. Can you imagine Haman as he got the robe and the horse then robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, This is what is done for the man the king delights to honour!?

"How one earth could this have happened?" he must be thinking. It was the last thing he wanted to happen.

And you see why God did it? To encourage his people. He can turn any situation around. Every now and again he does do it – he converts a Saul of Tarsus, he converts an Augustine or a Luther. We have mentioned Constantine's conversion or whatever it was. Think of how Communism suddenly collapsed a few decades ago and state persecution came almost to a standstill.

He did it also to warn Haman and to warn others who oppose Jesus Christ.

2. Consider the right conclusion of Haman's wife and advisers and learn the lesson

Lastly, I want to focus on the closing verses of the chapter. In verses 12-14 we read

Afterward Mordecai returned to the king's gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief, and told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him - you will surely come to ruin! While they were still talking with him, the king's eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Esther had prepared.

Those words of his friends and his wife stand out Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him--you will surely come to ruin! You are fighting a losing battle. You cannot win. They want to distance themselves from Haman's coming fall, of course, but they have now seen it and he needed to see it too. We all need to be convinced of its truth. The Edomites were also carried into exile at the same time as Israel. They did not survive. The Jews did, however, Indeed, they survive to this day despite every effort to destroy them. These are signs that God will be gracious to his people but that unbelievers are without hope. Let's learn the lesson and learn it well.