In February 2014, Walter was pronounced dead. As the doctor came in and checked for all the vital signs, he found none.

Transcription

1 ESTHER 8-10 In February 2014, Walter was pronounced dead. As the doctor came in and checked for all the vital signs, he found none. And so, as you do with any person who's passed away in the hospital, he was taken to a funeral home and was lying on a bed, when he started to move. To his families great delight, to everyone's amazement and surprise Walter had conquered death! He triumphed over the curse of the grave! It was a miracle. For 2 weeks at least. Before this time he really did die. You see his victory was just a 2 week temporary reprieve before the curse of death finally caught up to him. And as amazing as his story is, it helps illustrates what's about to happen in the closing chapters of Esther. THE CURSE OF DEATH LINGERS You see, last week Israel s Saviour won a great victory over the enemy of God s people. But the curse of death still hangs over God s people. The great enemy Haman has been defeated. But the great day of judgement Haman commanded back in Ch 3 still hangs over them. Because an edict sealed with the Kings signet ring is irrevocable. Not even the King himself can repeal the law. So in v7 the King comes up with a plan. 7 King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled him on the pole he set up. 8 Now write another decree in the king s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king s signet ring for no document written in the king s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked. THE KING GIVES A BLANK CHEQUE

2 In other words, I can t revoke Haman's edict. But here s my signet ring, here s a blank cheque, go and write a counter edict that can't be revoked either. So with a blank cheque in front of them and permission to write any sort counter edict, can you imagine the plans going through their heads? All our enemies are planning to annihilate us. The threat of death still hangs over us. But we've got a blank cheque! To do whatever we want to our enemies! DAY DREAM ABOUT PAYBACK - QUESTION If that was you, what sort of edict would you command? In fact, have you ever been in a situation where someone's treated you badly and you've dreamed of payback? Maybe your boss, a workmate, or school mate. Maybe someone cut you off in traffic? Maybe there's someone making life hard and stressful for you now and you've dreamed of payback. Now, imagine you had a blank cheque. To do anything you want. What sort of payback would you like? MOREDCAI WRITES A JUST EDICT Esther and Mordecai have just been given a blank cheque. And in v9 the scribes re summoned and they write down everything Mordecai now commands. But as we look at what he now commands, keep in mind, back to ch3, he s a city official sitting at the Kings gate. He s known for his wisdom and justice. So with a blank cheque in front of him we're about to see a great example on how to respond to hurtful people with justice and wisdom. He s not after blind revenge. No He's wants justice. Have a look at what he commands in v11. To see what wisdom and justice looks like. Now, we're going to look at his command bit by bit. To pull it apart THEY ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO DEFEND THEMSELVES And in v11 the first thing he does, he sends out an edict.

3 11 The king s edict granted the Jews in every city the right... to assemble and protect themselves; So First up they re only given the right to assemble so they can protect themselves. His edict doesn t allow revenge. They re not given permission to go and actively hunt out their enemies and pursue them before the day of judgement. Like a witch hunt. And that's because there's a big difference between justice and revenge. If it was me I'd want revenge. With all those people wanting to hurt me I reckon my thinking would be a bit clouded. And my sinful temptation would want them to pay big for the hurt they ve caused me. But Mordecai is better than me. He understands that God s way is all about seeking justice and righteousness. Not blind revenge. And justice is what God has always wanted his people to embrace. Take a look Genesis 18:18 18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, Both God and Mordecai want Gods people to embrace justice. To be known as people who do what is right and just. MORDECAI WRITES AN EYE FOR AM EYE COMMAND Ok, let's look at what else Mordecai commands back in 8:11. So as the gather together, in v11 they're then told: to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children, and to plunder the property of their enemies.

4 So this s actually another justice and wise command faithful to God s law. Because the command to kill and destroy and annihilate s actually taken straight from Haman s own command back in 3:13. Turn a look at Haman s edict in 3:13 Est 3:13 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with instruction to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day and to plunder their goods You see Mordecai s command is exactly the same as Haman s. It s an eye for an eye type command. So it's faithful to Gods OT law. He s not making up his own form of justice as he goes along. His sense of justice is clearly shaped by Gods word. GOD S PEOPLE HAVE A FEARFUL REPUTATION And so with that, as both Mordecai and his edict now go out into the kingdom, and as everyone hears the edict, in Ch8 God people now have a fearful reputation. 2 And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. 16 The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honour. 17 And in every province and in every city, wherever the king's command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews for fear of the Jews d fallen on them.

5 So Gods people are now a great people, with a fearful reputation. And the smart ones who fear death and the coming day, they now join God s people. They want to make sure they're on the winning side. THE DAY OF JUSTICE And with this we now turn to the final scene. The great day of justice. In 9:2: 2 The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those determined to destroy them. No one could stand against them, because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them. 3 And all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the king s administrators helped the Jews, because fear of Mordecai had seized them. And with that, God s people re now foolishly attacked for up to 2 days throughout the empire and by the end in v16 they triumph. 16 Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king s provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their hands on the plunder. So the great curse of death that s hung over God s people has been removed. Their last great enemy, their fear of death s been defeated. And from this day forward the Jews, right up to today, have always celebrated this great day of salvation. In v26 they call it the feast of Purim. So in March, just under a month from today, they'll come together to celebrate the day God saved them from their enemies and from the curse of death that hung over his people. ESTHER AND THE GOSPEL But. As we stop to compare the story of salvation unfolding here in the book of Esther. And the story of salvation unfolding in the gospel. 2 important similarities stand out in what we've just seen.

6 The first is, both salvation stories celebrate the day God rescued his people from death. The second is, on the day God rescues his people from death he'll come to bring justice to those who stand against him. These are the 2 similarities we'll look at. And looking at the first similarity first, the way both salvation stories celebrate the day God rescues his people from death, I t's important to remember Esther is a junior version of the gospel. You know how a kids model aeroplane kind of teaches you what a jumbo A380 is like. Esther is a kids model aeroplane compared to the jumbo A380 gospel. Let me explain. In Esther, their rescue from death was just a temporary reprieve. Like the guy who woke up in the morgue. Because within a few decades of Esther the Greeks came along and killed 10 s of thousands of Gods people. The Romans came next killing 100,000 of thousands more. Nero threw hundreds of Christians to the lions. And just in the last Century, the 1900 s, they reckon more Christians were martyred than in all the centuries since Christ added up. Even you and I, as we watch each other grow older and face sickness, we're getting closer to death every day And so Esther s victory was just a temporary reprieve from death. Yes the great enemies Haman and Satan have been defeated. But the curse of death still lingers over Gods people. So we re still waiting for that ultimate day when this curse is finally destroyed once and for all. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 15:24 we re even told the last enemy to be destroyed is death. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. So like salvation in Esther, on the great day of judgement, Christ will destroy all powers and authorities who are still standing against Gods people. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

7 So if you trust in Christ. And follow him as your Lord and Saviour. Then your sure and certain hope is that on the great day of judgement Christ will rescue you from the curse of death. He'll raise you up from the grave. And you will then live with him forever in the kingdom of God. That's the first similarity between the final day in Esther and the Gospel. The second similarity is this. When that day happens, like Mordecai, Christ will bring justice to those who stand against him and his people. Because for God the greatest injustice and wrong in the world is to stand against him, and his people. 2 Thess 1:6 puts it like this. 6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. This s Genesis 12 at work. I ll bless those who bless you and I ll curse those who curse you. In both Esther and the Gospel, in the final day, when God rescues his people, he'll also bring justice to those who stand opposed to him and his people. And this is also where the parallels between Esther and the gospel can start feeling a little uncomfortable for some. Especially if you're hearing this for the first time. So my goal now is to try and walk a fine line between not sugar coating the truth but not bludgeoning people with insensitive fire and brine stone. But with the in mind we need to keep seeing the similarities between the final confrontation in Esther and the final day of judgement in the gospel. Where God will defeat completely those who stand against him and his people. And the pointy end of this message comes when you look at the next couple of verses in 2 Thessalonians 1. Where, similar to Esther, God in v8: 8 He will punish those who do not know God...

8 He doesn't mean God'll punish those who are ignorant that God exists. He means God'll punish those who actively choose they do not want to know God as their friend 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes... So on the final day of judgement God will judge those who reject him as Lord by forever shutting them out from his presence. So if someone doesn't want to know God as their Lord then God will give them what they want. They will forever be shut off from any blessings that flow from God. He'll shut them out of his presence forever. So today, if you're not sure where you stand with Jesus, Can I encourage you to think about it. Can I encourage you to look into it and make a decision either way. My hope is you'll come to believe the gospel message of salvation is true. That you decide jesus is someone you want to know as your Lord and saviour. And if that's the case, or you just want to find out more, please feel free to come chat with either myself, or Russ or Danny or one of the elders. Or even the person next to you. And if you have put your trust I Christ. Then let me close with a passage from Isaiah 25. A great reminder of our future hope. On the day Christ comes, Isaiah says: Isaiah 25:6, 8-9 On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation."

9 Let s pray.