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Esther

Esther displays God's hidden providence as he preserves his covenant people from destruction and turns their mourning into joy.

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Sermons from Esther

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Gloom to Gladness

Bryan Schneider

March 12, 2021

Esther 9; Esther 10

Here at the conclusion of the Book of Esther, we see the Lord transforming gloom to gladness -- just as He continually does throughout history. The Jews successfully turned the tables on their enemies and overcame them. Haman's sons were executed, and thousands upon thousands of those who wished to destroy God's people were destroyed themselves. Afterwards, there was a time of rest and a proclamation of a celebration, which became known as Purim. The reason for the gladness was that God had delivered His people -- He had not forgotten them! Just as the Jews of old celebrated the defeat of their enemies, we Christians should know how to celebrate as well. Like Mordecai and Esther's countrymen, we were doomed to a certain death sentence because of our sinful nature. But now our gloom and sadness and sorrow has been taken away, because Jesus Christ has defeated death and lives again! We should be celebrating His glorious Resurrection -- every Sunday! Let's pray for grace so that our focus may be upon Him and His accomplished work, and not on the circumstances around us; for we know that our God has not forgotten us, and He is working all things for our good!

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The King's Protection

Bryan Schneider

March 5, 2021

Esther 8

King Ahasuerus has now promoted Mordecai to fill the office formerly held by Haman, and Haman's estates are given to Esther. But the death sentence against the Jews still stands, and it can't be revoked. In response to Esther's pleadings, the king tells her and Mordecai to write a new decree in his own name -- giving the Jews the right to gather together and defend themselves against their enemies. This, of course, resulted in great rejoicing among Esther's people; and many others also became Jews, because the fear of the Jews fell upon them. Our enemy today is not the people around us. Yes, there will be persecution that is raised against us; but we don't use this narrative as a justification to go out and destroy the enemies of the Church. Rather, we need to realize that the real enemy is sin and death -- which have already been defeated by Christ! This means that we are free to go and spread the good news of the Gospel, as we go about our daily spiritual battle against the devil, under the protection of our Savior. And one day, at the end of this world, there will be a great and final battle -- in which Christ will clearly be seen as the ultimate Conqueror and King!

Audio

Darkness to Light

Bryan Schneider

February 26, 2021

Esther 7

Haman is now brought in to the presence of the king and queen for the second banquet. It was here and now that the king asked Esther what her great petition was. What a difficult place for the queen to be in! Would the king really listen to her? What would Haman do next? But she does make her request known, and begs the king for her life and the lives of her people. And in answer to the king's astonished question, she reveals the name of the would-be assassin: "this wicked Haman!" And he met his just reward -- on the very same gallows that he had hoped to hang Mordecai on. Everything has been turned around! Very often, the Lord does not work in the way that we expect Him to. Here we see how Esther -- who had the death sentence upon her, just as much as every other Jew -- was saved by God and employed by Him to also save the lives of His chosen people. God has a plan for us, too! The Hamans and Ahasueruses of this world cannot thwart His Gospel-Kingdom. His plan for sinful humanity, which was under the death sentence, was for Jesus to come and take our place -- facing God's wrath upon the cross. He works in such a way that He turns darkness into light!

Audio

The extraordinary of the ordinary

Bryan Schneider

February 19, 2021

Esther 6

Now we come to the part of the narrative in Esther where the king cannot sleep, the night before the second banquet that Esther had proposed. So he orders the record-book of the kingdom to be brought and read in his presence, in which he discovers that Mordecai had never been honored for exposing the assassination plot against him. In the midst of all this, Haman walks in and is asked how the king should honor a man who is in his favor; and, to his shock, he is tasked with the duty of publicly honoring Mordecai. Then Haman goes home in shame, where his wife and friends predict his doom and tell him that he is already done for. God's Providence often does not work in the way that we would expect it to. Usually He does not work in miracles; but very frequently, He uses common and ordinary things to bring about extraordinary results -- just as He was doing here, behind the scenes, in the narrative of Esther. Throughout the different twists and turns that we experience in life, we may rest assured that He has orchestrated them in such a way that they are indeed bringing us closer to Christ and heaven. He is sovereign, and He is in total control of all things; and He will not allow anything in the mountains, valleys, and deserts of life to separate us from Him, His love, and our heavenly home!

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Approaching the Throne

Bryan Schneider

February 12, 2021

Esther 5

When Esther boldly entered King Ahasuerus' court, he mercifully held out the golden scepter to her as a token of his favor. She invites the king and Haman to a banquet; but when they come, she does not proceed to ask the king concerning the great matter that weighed heavily upon her mind. Perhaps she was afraid. At any rate, Haman leaves the banquet full of pride, but he becomes angry again when he sees Mordecai in the king's gate. When Haman gets home, he and his wife and friends concoct a plan to ask the king to hang Mordecai. Apparently this evil man felt confident enough now to deal with his hated enemy individually, instead of waiting for the destruction of all the Jews. And now, even more than before, it seemed as if God was not going to answer the Jews' prayers for deliverance! When we draw near to the throne of grace, our God holds out a scepter to us that is in the shape of a cross! Through Christ, we may freely draw near to Him and present our petitions; for we are clothed in our Savior's robe of righteousness. Without that spotless robe, we would have worse than a gallows awaiting us; but we may approach the throne in confidence, because of Jesus's perfect fulfillment of the covenant that was made between Him and His Father!

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Ready to Die - Esther 4

Bryan Schneider

February 5, 2021

Esther 4

Esther is now facing a position where she must make a decision: she must identify as either a pagan queen or a member of God's people. As the Jews are mourning and weeping over Haman's evil plans to destroy them, Mordecai tells Esther that she must go in and intercede on their behalf before the king. To go into the king's presence without an invitation was a dangerous venture that could very possibly cost her her life. After Mordecai reasons with Esther that the Lord has brought her to her high position for such a desperate time as this, she agrees to risk everything to plead for the lives of her people -- but only after Mordecai and the local Jews spend three days fasting. Just as the Jews were under the threat of destruction, we also have a death sentence hanging over our heads. And just as Esther stepped up to intercede on her people's behalf, Jesus stepped up to die in our place. Let's pray for grace to step out in faith, like Esther did; and to risk everything in order to publicly acknowledge our identity in Christ! Why would we not be willing to identify ourselves with our Savior, in light of the great love that He has for us?

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Has God Forgotten Us?

Bryan Schneider

January 29, 2021

Esther 2:19-23

In this passage of the Book of Esther, we find Haman being promoted by the king. Nevertheless, Mordecai refuses to bow down in reverence to him, because he was an Amalekite -- a descendant of one of the Jews' ancient enemies. In revenge, Haman formulates a plan to destroy all the Jews. Haman made his wicked plans in the Hebrew month of Nisan -- the month when the Feast of Passover was celebrated by God's people. As the Jews observed this Divinely-appointed feast after hearing the bad news of Haman's scheme, perhaps they wondered if God had forsaken them. Jesus also received His death notice on the eve of Passover. His disciples likely felt abandoned also. We, too, were under the threat of death because of our sin. But even though there are trials and troubles in this life, our God is still in control. He has set His eye upon us, and we rejoice that the Passover Lamb has already come to redeem us from the death sentence that we were under!

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Defying the King

Bryan Schneider

January 15, 2021

Esther 1

The Book of Esther opens with a grand, elaborate feast that King Ahasuerus is putting on to show off his wealth and his power. In the midst of the festivities, he ordered his queen to come in also and show off before the drunken crowd; but she refused. At the recommendation of his princes, he divorces Queen Vashti. No aspect of this picture has been given to Christians to imitate. But it is the first of many dilemmas that present themselves throughout this Book. Even though the Lord did not approve of what was going on here, He did use Ahasuerus' deeds to start a chain reaction of events that He was sovereignly orchestrating to preserve His people. The grand takeaway from this opening chapter of Esther is to see the contrast between Ahasuerus and the Lord Jesus. The former demanded respect and acted as a dictator over his wife; but the latter serves and loves His Bride, and thereby earns her respect without commanding it. And while Ahasuerus' grand monarchy is gone and buried in dust; the Kingdom of Christ still exists today, and He still rules in love!