Gloom to Gladness

Scripture Reading

You may be seated. Will you turn over in your Bibles with me to Ephesians chapter 9. Ephesians. There's no Ephesians chapter 9. Esther chapter 9. I even almost wrote that on the handouts. I almost put Ephesians 9. Esther chapter 9. So you're at the last of the historical books So if you get to Job or Psalms or Proverbs, you're too far, just go back a few books. Right after Nehemiah, it's easy to miss. Esther chapter nine.

If you're using your pew Bibles, you're gonna find that on page 448. And if you look right after that, there is a chapter 10. It's only one paragraph, a couple of verses. So we're going to do nine and 10 together today. So Esther chapter nine. Hear now God's word.

Now in the 12th month, that is a month of Adar, on the 13th day that the time of the king's command and his decree to be executed. On the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to overpower them, the opposite occurred. And that the Jews themselves overpowered those who hated them. Remember where we are, the 13th of Adar, the death decree day.

We've had this whole story that has built up to this day, this moment in time, where were the Jews going to be completely annihilated? Would the genocide still go through the land? Okay, great, Mordecai got to write a law last week, and he sent it out by the noble steeds to go out, but would people actually listen? Would people still be so foolish as to fight, even though the king's decree went out saying that the Jews could assemble and defend themselves?

Well, the text tells us that the opposite occurred. And this is something that the Lord does time and time and time again. He turns gloom into gladness. Time and time again, this is what the Lord is about, is turning gloom into gladness. And as we work through this passage of what happens as we conclude the book of Esther, we find that this is what God does. And as we look at scripture, we'll see that this is the pattern of how the Lord works.

So the opposite occurred, and in that, the Jews themselves overpowered those who hated them. The Jews gathered together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king, Ashurarius, to lay hands on those who sought them harm. And no one could withstand them, because fear of them fell upon all people. These people who were once fearful themselves in the citadel of Susa, those people who were once weeping and mourning and wearing sackcloth and covering themselves with ashes, were now the ones who people were afraid of. And all the officials of the provinces, verse 3, and all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and all those doing the king's works, helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.

For Mordecai was great in the king's palace, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces. For this man, Mordecai, became increasingly prominent. Thus the Jews defeated all their enemies with the stroke of the sword. with slaughter and destruction and did what they pleased with those who hated them. Mordecai was exalted by the king. He was, remember Haman had been put to death and now Mordecai was put second in command. The signet ring was put on his finger and he was the main man. He was the head honcho.

But there's months There are months between when Mordecai writes the decree of the king, that the Jews can defend themselves, and when this actually happens. And during that time frame, Mordecai's fame grows. Mordecai's prestige grows. People become more and more aware that this Jewish man, Mordecai, is second to none other than the king.

And so they fear him. But throughout the provinces, the satraps and the governors, all those who did the work, instead of trying to kill the Jews, they helped them. Instead of trying to kill them, they helped them. Isn't that amazing that the Lord can do that? He can turn people's hearts in an instant. But not everybody helped them. Not everybody helped them. 10 in particular still wanted blood.

Look with me at verses six through 10. And in Susan, the citadel, the Jews killed and destroyed 500 men. Also, and I'm gonna struggle with names here, but that's okay. Parashantatha, Dalphan, Asatha, Poratha, Adalaya, Aridalath, Arida, Ari, Ad, Aridatatha, Parmashatha, Arishai, Aridai, and Vajazidatha, the ten sons of Haman, the son of Hamadatha, the enemy of the Jews they killed.

The ten sons of Haman still attacked them. 500 people just in the capital themselves, plus the 10 sons of Haman, were still hell-bent on trying to destroy the Jewish people. Still trying to create this rebellion, this uprising, this killing of the Jews, even knowing that this was going to be total warfare. That the Jews were allowed to kill, destroy, and annihilate any of those who attacked them, and they still blazingly go out and try to fight them. But it's interesting what the last few words of that verse say, isn't it?

But they did not lay hands on the plunder. The Hebrew is, and they did not stretch out their hands. towards the booty, towards the treasures of war that they would be able to, in that day and age, take. I mean, that kind of sounds weird in our modern age, right? You go to war, you're supposed to just take care of warfare stuff, but you're not allowed to go steal people's things.

And that's a pretty, by pretty, I mean a really new concept. I mean, even into World War II, there's all sorts of Lugers all throughout the US that people took from Germany. and brought home. There's all sorts of plunder that has happened all throughout the world. This was part of what warfare was.

And that's one of the reasons why Augustine said it's unjust to go to war if you're just trying to steal your neighbor's stuff. But the Jews don't stretch out their hand to take the plunder because for them, they know that this is not what this is about. The war that they have entered into is not about making themselves rich. The war that they've come into, that they've been thrust into, that they've been forced to is a war of defense and it is not theirs to win and to plunder the enemy so they don't stretch out their hands. Even against the sons of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, they won't do it.

It should bring your mind back to what happened at Jericho. When God told them that they were going to march around the walls seven times, the walls were going to come down, but the victory wasn't going to be theirs. The victory is going to be the Lord's, and nothing in the city they were allowed to take, because it was going to be shown that it was the Lord who did this. And so here the people recognize this is not our doing when we win. We're not going to stretch out our hands and take their things.

On that day, verse 11, on that day, the number of those who were killed in Shushan, the citadel, was brought to the king. And this is Asherah's response. And the king said to Queen Esther, the Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men in Shushan, the citadel, and the 10 sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces?

Now, what is your petition? It shall be granted to you. Or what is your further request? It will be done. This man who hadn't seen his wife in a month, this man who had just flippantly allowed Haman to write this death decree, now is the one who gets the first military reports back and tells Esther, 500 just in the citadel, just in the capital have been killed. Who else? We don't know yet how many other people were killed throughout the region. What more do you want? But he's not asking that in a way like, you know, grumpy. He's actually asking that as, what more can I do for you? Is there anything else? Have we gone far enough with this?

Then Esther said, if it pleases the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Susan to do again tomorrow according to today's decree and let Haman's 10 sons be hanged on the gallows. See, Esther is wise. She knows that there might be a second wave. She, a little bit of speculation, she might have even heard that some people said, we know that the king said to do it this day, but if we do it the next day, maybe we'll surprise them. She says, let the decree happen again. Let us defend ourselves another day, just in case. Just in case, and to prove the point how serious you are about this, my loving husband, Ashuarius, who only has eyes for me. Yeah, right? Hang Haman's ten sons to show how serious this is. Put it on display.

And so verse 14, this is what the king does. So the king commanded this to be done. The decree was issued in Suson and they hanged. Haman's 10 sons, and the Jews who were in Susan gathered together again on the 14th day of the month of Adar and killed 300 men at Susan, but they did not lay hands on their plunder. Did you catch that? They did it again the next day. The king's decree was only for one day, and what happens the next day? 300 more still die. So that's the number of people who died. How many people were fighting? How many people were, again, hell-bent on trying to destroy the Jews? Trying to wipe out God's people.

And again, they will not lay their hands on the plunder. The victory isn't theirs. The money isn't theirs. This was not a war about getting rich, but it was a war that they were thrust into of self-defense. And the remainder of the Jews, verse 16, The remainder of the Jews in the king's provinces gathered together and protected their lives, had rest from their enemies, and killed 75,000 of their enemies. But they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

This was on the 13th day of the month of Adar, On the 14th of the month, they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness. This is a weird thing, isn't it? I mean, we can sit here in these four walls, it's really comfy and it's heated and none of us are out there fighting for our lives. But yet this is saying that the people knew that peril was at their door, that death was knocking, that people had their eyes filled with the blood color of red, wanting to destroy them.

And God had protected them. Yes, it meant that they had to defend themselves, but they and their families were safe. God had delivered them. God had not forgotten his people. God had not cast away his promises. God had not changed. but was still loving his people, even though it might have seemed dark and gloomy. The Lord was going to love his people.

But the Jews, verse 18, what happens here, But the Jews were at Shushan assembled together on the 13th day as well as on the 14th and on the 15th of the month they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness. Therefore the Jews of the villages who dwelt in the unwalled towns celebrated the 14th day of the month of Adar with gladness and fasting as a holiday and for sending presents to one another." Now that's a really A flowery way of saying this year, it says, the Jews of the villages who dwell to the unwalled towns, that's saying rural folk. The Hebrew is less flowery than that. It's just saying people in the country, people in the country celebrated. They gave each other gifts. Remember the day that God saved his people? Remember the day when God kept his covenant people safe? Remember that day? We're gonna have a party. I remember listening to a pastor out in Cleveland, his name is Alistair Begg. If you ever get a chance to listen to any sermon by Alistair Begg, just gobble it up, it's good.

But he was talking about if there's anybody who should know how to celebrate and throw a good party, it should be Christians. It should be Christians who are able to celebrate wholeheartedly for wonderful and beautiful things that God has done. We often sit in our Presbyterian pews and people make fun of us, the frozen chosen, right? But when God does amazing things, maybe we should stand up and clap. It's okay to be excited.

It's okay to say, God, you saved someone. I remember we were in a church and somebody we had been praying for for months and months and months. I mean, we had every single Sunday been praying for this individual that they might come to know the Lord. And at one Sunday morning, somebody said, they professed Christ. And everybody was just kind of like, I thought, all the angels in heaven are rejoicing. How are we not standing up and saying hallelujah? This is wonderful news. This is good news. Give presents! Have a meal! Enjoy! This is good stuff!

And Mordecai wrote these sayings and sent letters to all the Jews near and far who were in the provinces of King Asuarius to establish among them that they should celebrate yearly the 14th and 15th days of the month of Adar as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which they turned from sorrow to joy for them, from mourning to a holiday, that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of sending presents to one another, and gifts to the poor. So the Jews accepted the custom which they had begun as Mordecai had written to them. Because Haman, the son of Hamadeth of the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to annihilate them and had cast the purr, that is the lot, to consume them and destroy them. But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letter that this wicked plot which Haman had devised against the Jews should return on his own head and that his sons should be hanged on the gallows. Mordecai sends us out and says we should have a day of fasting, a day of feasting, a day of giving presents, a day of remembering the poor, a day of celebrating.

Now this is, I'm going to say this, and some of my RP friends aren't going to really like this, but I remember talking to one of my friends when I was at Trinity in Chicago. It was a big evangelical seminary, and my friend David, he's a big guy, gentle giant type guy, probably six foot six, big huge beard, Australian dude. And we were talking in the car one time, and he said, oh, you're one of those people. And I said, what do you mean? You're one of those people who say you celebrate the resurrection every week, but in all reality, you never actually do. You knew that many RPs won't celebrate Easter or Christmas. I've been one of those RPs.

If we have anything to celebrate, brothers and sisters, is it not God vanquishing our greatest foe, sin and death itself? Now, I'm not saying that we should put up a Christmas tree in the church and bring in Santa Claus and all the other stuff, but we better celebrate when Easter comes here in a few weeks. We better celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, again, I know that that's a controversial saying, something to say in an RP church, but brothers and sisters, we better celebrate the resurrection. If we're one of those who say, well, maybe we shouldn't set a day on the calendar and do it every year, well, that's fine. Well, you better actually come and celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ every Sunday. We better rejoice and be glad, have feasting and give presents.

Show that God's goodness towards us is shown in Jesus Christ, that he has turned all of our gloom to gladness. That he has taken away the curse of sin and death and pain and has given us hope that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, if anybody should be able to throw a good party, it should be Christians about the resurrection of our Lord.

So they called these days Purim. After the name Pur, that's an interesting, all right, this Purim, casting the lots, we actually have archeological evidence for what this is. It's just, have you ever picked up a dice before? It looks almost the exact same. It's that ancient, that old, there's literally, they did it with rocks and they would drill little holes in it, or they would scratch lines in it and they would throw it on the ground.

They would cast lots and it's Proverbs chapter 16 verse 33 says, a man cast lots into his lap, but the Lord controls the lot. It's God who's sovereign over what happens. See, it was Haman who thought when he cast that lot, what day can I kill the Jews? And he found out, okay, it's supposed to be the 13th of Adar. Yeah, it was the Lord who was doing that, but he didn't know it.

Did you notice we're at the very end of Esther? And the word, the Lord, hasn't shown up anywhere in the book yet. Actually, it's nowhere in the book. Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, Lord, the Tetragrammaton, Yod-Heh, Vav-Heh, Yahweh, or what we would translate sometimes Jehovah, it's nowhere in the book of Esther.

And some people get really worked up about that, but the reality is that the Lord has been the one who's been over all of this the entire time. It was the Lord who was the one who was going to take these sinful ideas and sinful plans, and Haman thought he was going to do this to destroy God's people and to get away from what God was going, what he thought he could do to God's people, and God was going to go, whoop, nope. That's the way the Lord works. And you might say, well, what type of foolish person would do that if they know that God is sovereign? Well, Satan knows that God is sovereign and still hates it and fights against him every day. And yet the Lord turns all of Satan's plans on its head and shows his mercy and his grace.

And so they called these days Purim after the name Pur. Therefore, because of all the wonders of all the words of this letter, what they had seen concerning this matter and what had happened to them, the Jews established and imposed it upon themselves and their descendants and all who would join them, that without fail, they should celebrate these two days every year, according to the written instructions and according to the prescribed time, that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, every city that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews and that the memory of them should not perish among their descendants.

This was not a holiday in the sense that we think of a holy day. They didn't set up a new Sabbath. The Jews accepted this tradition as something that they thought was a good idea. But if somebody didn't celebrate Purim, they wouldn't be cast out of the synagogue, they would just be kind of looked at weird. Why don't you do that? So even if you might not celebrate Easter or Christmas, you don't need to look down on others who do, or you don't need to think that somehow they're not Christians because they don't celebrate that. The Jews accepted this as what they thought was a good idea to remember what God had done. But it was not the Sabbath. It was not THE holiday. It was not THE one day. That was still something else.

But Queen Esther then, the daughter of Abihel, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter about Purim. And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ashurias, with words of peace and truth, to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed time. as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had prescribed for them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their descendants concerning matters of their fasting and lamenting. So the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim, and it was written in the book. It's written down for us to remember. Jews to this day still celebrate Purim.

They have all sorts of little things that they've added to it that they do. And they'll actually read through the whole book of Esther. And every time they hear Mordecai's name, they'll do something. And every time they hear Esther's name, they'll do something. And every time they hear Haman's name, they'll do something. And they make little cookie-type things that are like pointed ears that are supposed to be like Haman's ears. And there's all sorts of things.

And Jewish people still celebrate this today. Why? Because they want to remember. They want to remember the day in which God had turned their gloom to gladness, their sorrow to joy. We have something far greater than that, don't we? Our sorrow has been turned to joy. That our sorrow, our gloom of sin and death and the havoc that that wreaks upon our lives, even as we grieve and we see our loved ones die.

Even that, I was amazed at the funeral of my father-in-law. How much we could rejoice. Yeah, he's dead. He's been buried. But I'll see him again someday. Because our conqueror lives, because Jesus Christ has turned our gloom to gladness, because we grieve with hope, you will see your mother and your fathers again. You will see those again. You will rejoice with those who rejoice and have been rejoicing for centuries. And brothers and sisters, our gloom will turn to gladness because even as we see this day and age and we see our culture going down what we think is the proverbial toilet bowl, we know that someday our king is going to return. Jesus Christ is going to make all things right again. And we will have gladness for eternity as we worship before the throne of the Lamb of God.

And so the book of Esther ends with these words about Mordecai, chapter 10. And King Ashurarius imposed tribute on the land and on the islands of the sea. Now all the acts of his power and his might on the account of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media in Persia? For Mordecai the Jew was second to King Asuarius and was great among the Jews and well-received by the multitude of his brethren, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his countrymen. May we pray for statesmen like that. May we pray that even in our own country as we see gloom, maybe we should start praying that God would turn our gloom to gladness and raise up men who would be faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ.

But no matter what, as we close out this Book of Esther, Walk away knowing that it is God who is working all things together for good of those who love him and who have been called according to his purposes. And days of gloom are just a prologue, just the introductory word to an eternity of gladness he has in store for us. We might not see what the Lord is doing. He works in some mysterious ways. But never forget, that the Lord is sovereign, he never forgets his people, and he will always bring us back to joy in him.

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Oh, Father, what great joy we have in Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray that you would, Father, we pray that you would direct our eyes upward to your glory. We pray that you would fill our hearts with gladness. We long for the day when there will no longer be any more tears or pain. Father, we hope for what we cannot see, but we trust in your sovereignty and in your goodness and mercy toward us. Lord, please take away any foolish thing that I might have said today. Let us fix our eyes upon you and let us have a hope that would endure forever. In Jesus's name.