Such A Time As This

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name, Jesus said, there am I in the midst of them. To those of you who love Him in truth: mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied.

This is the story of Mordecai and Esther, his uncle’s daughter, whom Mordecai raised as his own daughter, and of the people of the Jews and how God moved on their behalf when their enemies sought to destroy them. Let’s read Esther 4:14, Mordecai said to Esther, For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Today’s program is called, Such A Time As This. 

Let’s turn to Est 2:5, In Shushan the citadel there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite. Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been captured with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. Verse 15, Now when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai the king's eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her. So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. Then the king made a great feast, the Feast of Esther, for all his officials and servants; and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces and gave gifts according to the generosity of a king. 

Est 3:1, After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him. 

And all the king's servants who were within the king's gate bowed and paid homage to Haman, for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai would not bow or pay homage. Then the king's servants who were within the king's gate said to Mordecai, Why do you transgress the king's command? Now it happened, when they spoke to him daily and he would not listen to them, that they told it to Haman, to see whether Mordecai's words would stand; for Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew. 

When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage, Haman was filled with wrath. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai. Instead, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus—the people of Mordecai. In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, the lot), before Haman to determine the day and the month, until it fell on the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other people's, and they do not keep the king's laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king's treasuries. So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. And the king said to Haman, The money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you. Then the king's scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and a decree was written according to all that Haman commanded—to the king's satraps, to the governors who were over each province, to the officials of all people, to every province according to its script, and to every people in their language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written, and sealed with the king's signet ring. And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions. A copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province, being published for all people, that they should be ready for that day. The couriers went out, hastened by the king's command; and the decree was proclaimed in Shushan the citadel. So the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed. Here we see again Satan’s hatred for the Jewish people manifesting in Haman as he sought to destroy all the Jews. 

Est 4:1, When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city. He cried out with a loud and bitter cry. He went as far as the front of the king's gate, for no one might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. And in every province where the king's command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. Mordecai explained to Esther what was going on, and then he said to her, verse 13, …Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish! So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther commanded him. Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, across from the king's house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house. So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter. 

And the king said to her, What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you—up to half the kingdom! So Esther answered, If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him. Then the king said, Bring Haman quickly, that he may do as Esther has said." So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared. At the banquet of wine the king said to Esther, What is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your request, up to half the kingdom? It shall be done! Then Esther answered and said, My petition and request is this: If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, then let the king and Haman come to the banquet which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said. So Haman went out that day joyful and with a glad heart; but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, and that he did not stand or tremble before him, he was filled with indignation against Mordecai. Nevertheless Haman restrained himself and went home, and he sent and called for his friends and his wife Zeresh. Then Haman told them of his great riches, the multitude of his children, everything in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and servants of the king. Moreover Haman said, Besides, Queen Esther invited no one but me to come in with the king to the banquet that she prepared; and tomorrow I am again invited by her, along with the king. Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate. Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, Let a gallows be made, fifty cubits high, and in the morning suggest to the king that Mordecai be hanged on it; then go merrily with the king to the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman; so he had the gallows made. Here we see that God is beginning to move against Haman in response to the cries of His people.

Est 6:1  That night the king could not sleep. So one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. Then the king said, What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this? And the king's servants who attended him said, Nothing has been done for him. So the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king's palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. The king's servants said to him, Haman is there, standing in the court. And the king said, Let him come in. So Haman came in, and the king asked him, What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor? Now Haman thought in his heart, Whom would the king delight to honor more than me? And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the king delights to honor, let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its head. Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. Then parade him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him: Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor! Then the king said to Haman, Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king's gate! Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken. So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor! Afterward Mordecai went back to the king's gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered. When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him but will surely fall before him. Remember, this was God responding to the fasting and prayers and humbling of themselves of His people, and He was beginning to deliver them from their enemy Haman and all his plan to destroy them, and to turn it on Haman’s head. 

Verse 14, While they were still talking with him, the king's eunuchs came, and hastened to bring Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared. Est 7:1, So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther. And on the second day, at the banquet of wine, the king again said to Esther, What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request, up to half the kingdom? It shall be done! Then Queen Esther answered and said, If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. Had we been sold as male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king's loss. So King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther, Who is he, and where is he, who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing? And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman! So Haman was terrified before the king and queen. Then the king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden; but Haman stood before Queen Esther, pleading for his life, for he saw that evil was determined against him by the king. 

When the king returned from the palace garden to the place of the banquet of wine, Haman had fallen across the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, Will he also force the queen while I am in the house? As the word left the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face. Now Harbonah, one of the eunuchs, said to the king, Look! The gallows, fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke good on the king's behalf, is standing at the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him on it! 

So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's wrath subsided. 

We see in Chapter eight how God continued to give Mordecai and Esther favor with the king Ahasuerus and they were able to reverse the destruction which Haman had ordered against the Jews to destroy them in every province and turn it upon all those who hated them and sought their destruction. Est 8:7, Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, Indeed, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he laid his hand upon the Jews.  It cannot be overstressed how Mordecai and Esther and all the Jews humbled themselves before their God with fasting in sack cloth and ashes, seeking His help against the destruction being worked against them. They all , with one heart, cried out to their God and He was entreated of them and He moved in a marvelous way to turn the destruction upon it’s perpetrators, namely Haman, the Jews’ enemy, and all his house, and all those throughout the kingdom that sought to destroy the Jews. Est 8:17, And in every province and city, wherever the king's command and decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a holiday. Then many of the people of the land became Jews, because fear of the Jews fell upon them.  

Consider what happened to Haman, the Jews’ enemy, who sought to destroy them. God told Abraham that He would bless those who bless him, and He would curse those who curse him. As Haman’s wife and counselors told him, If Mordecai is of the seed of the Jews, before whom you have begun to fall, you shall not prevail against him, but you shall surely fall before him.

Thank you for reading this message from 15 Minutes With Jesus at roberthaymes.com . May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you who love Him in truth, Amen.