Sermon: If I Perish, You Live

Good evening, brothers and sisters. It's good to be with you tonight, and always a tremendous privilege and joy to be able to bring God's Word. Uh, I'd ask you to pick up your Bibles and turn to Esther chapter 4. Uh, we are several chapters into this book, this wonderful true story told in narrative form about how God preserved His people from total annihilation in Persia. Let me pray first, and then we will read Esther 4, and then I'll just sort of get

us up to speed as to where we are in the story. Esther 4: When Mordecai learned that all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes and went out into the midst of the city. And he cried out with a loud and bitter cry. He went up to the entrance of the king's gate, for no one was allowed to enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth. And in every province wherever the king's command and his decree reached, there was great

mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes. When Esther's young women and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what

this was and why it was. Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king's gate. And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to

her and command her to go to the king to beg his favor and plead with him on behalf of her people. And Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say, "All the king's servants and all the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law, to be put to death, except

the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days." And then they told Mordecai what Esther had said. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place,

but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, "Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law. And if I perish,

I perish." Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him. Let's pray. Our Lord and our God, our Heavenly Father, you have exalted your name and your Word above all things. We pray that you would exalt them tonight. Would your Spirit cause us to believe and receive this Word, to rest in it and rejoice greatly over it, to live it out this week, and even to give it away to others. And we pray this in the precious name of

Jesus. Amen. So this is a narrative, and so it's important that we remember where we are in the story, so I'm just gonna quickly review a few things here. At the end of chapter 2 and then into chapter 3, Mordecai under, uncovers a plot to assassinate King Ahasuerus. But ironically, he does not reward or promote Mordecai for this saving act, but instead promotes a man named Haman who, if we could borrow some modern psychological

words, was a narcissist and a sociopath. He promotes him to be second in command. The king also ordered everyone to bow down to him and pay homage to him, and everyone did except one person, Mordecai. He refused. Well, this enraged Haman, who decided it wasn't enough to kill Mordecai alone, but rather he's going to destroy every Jew in Persia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces. We're talking about total annihilation, genocide. This of course would

be a national disaster for the Jews, but a worldwide disaster for everyone. There'd be no more people of God.There'd be no Messiah from Abraham's offspring, and obviously, no salvation for us. And this leads us into chapter four that we just read. When Mordecai hears of Haman's plot, he clothes himself in sackcloth and ashes, which is a sign of mourning and anguish, and he goes out into the midst of the city and he starts to cry out

bitterly. While this was happening, the Edict of Destruction had gone to most, if not all, the provinces, and so the Jews throughout the empire are also mourning and weeping because of the Edict of Destruction. Esther hears about Mordecai's behavior and his, his anguish, and she's deeply distressed, so she sends a eunuch named Hathach to find out why Mordecai is so upset. This begins a crucial conversation between Mordecai

and Esther that goes something like this. Mordecai: "Give Esther this copy of the Edict of Destruction, and then command her to go to the king, revealing her identity as a Jew, and to plead with him on behalf of her people." Esther replies, "Everyone knows there's a law that says if you go into the king without being called, you will be put to death unless he holds out the golden scepter. And besides, the king hasn't called for

me for over a month." Mordecai replies, "Esther, don't think you'll be the only Jew to escape death just because you're in the king's palace. If you keep silence, deliverance will come from somewhere, and just maybe you have come to your position in the kingdom for such a time as this." So finally, Esther replies, "All right, then gather all the Jews in Shushan and hold a fast on my behalf, and I will go to the king, though it

is against the law." And then the most famous words in this book, "If I perish, I perish." So all the way through this book, a crisis has been building, and it's kind of coming to a climax in chapter four. The crisis originated in an ancient conflict all the way back in Genesis three between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. And in Esther, we see the conflict and feel

this tension building and building. Most obviously, the tension is between the Jews and the Persians, which is coming to a head. But I also sense a tension in the book, perhaps more implied than stated, between the Jews and God, the tension that always exists between a holy God and a compromised people. Now, I'm gonna be honest here, not every commentator would take this point of view. They would not necessarily see compromise.

So I'm gonna take a couple minutes and make my case for that, and you can decide whether you think it's valid or not. Remember, the Jews are in Persia because God had exiled them from their land due to the sin of their forefathers. And although we know they had not fully assimilated to the Persian culture, and we know that because Haman earlier tells Ahasuerus, "There's this people in the land that do not follow our customs and rules. They have their own rules." And so they

have not fully assimilated, but by choice, they're still living in a pagan land, surrounded by ungodly people, and ruled by an idolatrous king. To say the least, this is a dangerous situation. Well, what about the main characters, clearly Mordecai and Esther? Well, Mordecai and Esther, for some time, had also lived for years in the empire by fitting in and going with the flow. So I sense a different feel in this book from, say, the Book of Daniel, which is a very similar

situation. They're both exiled Jews in pagan countries. But in Daniel, the main characters, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, right off the bat refuse to eat the king's food. They refuse to bow down before the golden image. Same God, same situation, but a different feel. So the question in chapter four is for me, will God save his people who chose to stay in exile in Persia? And if so, how will he do it? Well, the answer to the first question is obviously yes.

We all know that. But how will God save his people? So I wanna share two ways that God saves his people in the Book of Esther. Number one, God saves his people by faithfully fulfilling his covenant promises. He saves his people by faithfully fulfilling his covenant promises. Scholar Karen Jobes writes, "God's providence fulfills his promises." Their only hope in Persia was, and our only hope today is, the promise, the promises of a

covenant-keeping God. So what are the significant promises that God had made to his people that are in the background of this story? I wanna suggest four promises, and as I do that, I want you to a, a, be aware of three interrelated things in these four promises. They're all about a peopleA land and saving blessings. So the first promise is a promise that God made to Abraham in Genesis 15, and he says, "Abraham, look toward heaven

and number the stars if you can. So shall your offspring be." There's the promise of a people. In Exodus 3:16 and 17, God is speaking through Moses to the elders of Israel in Egypt, and he says, "I've observed what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk

and honey." There we have salvation and blessing again tied in to the land. Now, these interrelated promises were conditional upon their obedience. In Deuteronomy 28, God says, "But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord or be careful to do all his commandments, the Lord will bring you and your king to a nation or land that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve gods of stone and wood."

Here the idea is if there's no obedience, there's no land, and there's no presence of God. So let's put all this together. The Jews in Persia in the time of Esther were there because of the covenant curse God had pronounced on his people for the unfaithfulness and sin of their forefathers. This judgment, as you know, was carried out by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 586 BC. But God also promised through Jeremiah that, "The days are coming when I will restore the fortunes

of my people and bring them back to the land of their fathers." So again, here's a promise of restoration connected to the land of Israel. This promise of restoration was fulfilled by another king, King Cyrus of Persia, in 539 BC, when he allowed the Jews to return to their homeland, and this showed God's faithfulness to his promise made through Jeremiah. But significantly, some Jews chose to stay in Persia rather than to return to the land God had given them.

Now, I don't think staying in Persia was a deal breaker, but it does complicate things. How?

A question comes to my mind as I read this text, why did they stay in Persia? Now, the text doesn't say, but I would surmise that it probably seemed more comfortable to stay where they were settled than to pull up their roots, make a very long and difficult journey back to Israel to a land that had been ravaged. Choosing comfort is not necessarily sin, but it's often dangerous. And while they had not been fully assimilated into Persian

culture, it's very different to avoid compromise when you're living in a foreign land under pagan rule. You and I know that from our own experience. Even in our own country, which has a Judeo-Christian founding and background, we all know how hard it is not to compromise with our culture. So we can't be harsh or dogmatic about the Jews' fidelity or infidelity. But, but there are indications in the story that I think at least raise questions about

compromise for us. So what are some other indications of compromise? Well, again, Mordecai, from the very beginning, he's a Persian official. He sits at the gate. He's one of the ruling class in a pagan empire. And early in the story, he commands Esther not to make it known that she's a Jew. Politically expedient? Yes. A certain wisdom to protect yourself? Yes. But again, I just sense a different atmosphere here. Daniel and his friends were not afraid to stand out, and they

weren't allow- they weren't afraid to stand firm in an equally pagan empire. How about Esther, who is arguably the star of this show? Among other things, she agrees to become part of a harem, and she marries a pagan king. You cannot do those things without breaking many stipulations in the Mosaic Covenant. I'm not trying to make the case that Mordecai and Esther are villains. Far from it. They do rise by the end of the story, by God's grace, to do

heroic things, especially Esther. But overall, I think it's best to see them as ordinary people, flawed just like we are, in extraordinary circumstances and being guided by an extraordinary God. One more thing. There's an intri- intriguing double fact in this story that I don't always know what to do with. There is no mention of anyone in the story ever praying. In fact, you know that God is never even mentioned in this book.

Maybe there's an implication of praying when it said they fasted and wept, maybe, but it never says that anybody prays, and no one ever mentions the LordWhy? I don't know. But I have a couple educated guesses. One guess is the author wants us to see the hidden hand of God, His providential working through very ordinary events for the sake of His people according to His sovereign plan, even when people don't seem to be directly addressing Him.

Previous sermons on Esther, our pastors have done a good job to show God's hidden providential hand. My other thought is perhaps the author wants to highlight the gracious nature of God's salvation. Again, not one exiled, oppressed, compromised, or even heroic Jew ever mentions God. But nevertheless, He shows amazing grace and saves them from destruction. So I want to make a point right here, kind of an application in the middle of the

sermon. You and I all face cultural pressures all the time. Sometimes we face hostile enemies, and every day we struggle against the weakness of our faith. Those three things never excuse our compromise or cowardice. Remember what Jesus said, "If you will not stand up and be counted and acknowledge me, I will not acknowledge you." And I'm wondering tonight if any of you out there feel like you have compromised yourself recently. Maybe it's just

hiding your identity as a Christian, or not standing up or speaking up for Christ when you had the opportunity. Maybe you have succumbed to pressure and to, and to compromise what you knew was right in a relationship or at work. And again, that's not good. Maybe someone out here tonight, in an honest moment, would say, "Yes, I believe in Jesus. Yes, I go to church. But if someone looks at my life, it doesn't really look any different from my

unbelieving neighbors." But the Book of Esther says, "Don't despair." God is faithful to His covenant promises even when we're not. This gives us a great security and good hope. So if you find yourself tonight feeling compromised, look up. Turn back. Or as we might say of the prodigal son, just go home. God will welcome you and forgive you. So that's our first point. God saves His people by being faithful to His covenant promises even when there's compromise,

even when people aren't faithful to Him. The second way God saves His people is through a self-sacrificing mediator. Notice again that this situation in Persia is absolutely desperate. It's the threat of total annihilation. It's so desperate that only God could save them. But again, ironically, He's never addressed. He's never mentioned. God has chosen in this book to work graciously. They don't deserve it. He's chosen to work hiddenly,

not a single miracle. And He's chosen especially to work through Esther, though she has been living incognito in a pagan harem. But this is God's sovereign, beautiful plan that she is the queen of Persia at this time, positioned to be used by God to save their people. His sovereign grace has worked for her to bring her to this position, this time and place, and now He's going to work in her to give her the courage to stand up and be

counted as one of God's people, and to stand before the king at great personal risk. So how does God bring this transformation in Esther? Well, largely through the one we might call the best supporting actor in this story, Mordecai. If you go back to verse eight, after crying out bitterly when he hears of Haman's plot and then communicating what's about to happen to, to Esther, he does two things. First of all, he commands her to go to the king,

revealing her identity and pleading for her people or their people. This is a change in Mordecai's ideas and plans, and it brings about a big change in Esther. Whereas earlier he commanded her to hide her, h- her Jewish identity, now he commands her to reveal it, and he knows full well the danger this would put her in. She might die. Certainly possible, maybe even likely that she will die. So he commands her to go to the king.

Then secondly, he makes two compelling arguments. He says, "Esther, if you continue to hide your identity, you will die and, and your father's house will die with you." Can you imagine being in Esther's situation right now? The stress, the pressure. If I go to the king, I will possibly die. If I don't go to the king, I will certainly die. Whoa. That's a, that's a crisis. So Mordecai says-Go to the king. It's possible, even likely, that God has raised you up at

just this time to save your people." So the crisis itself and Mordecai's interpretation and exhortation has proved to be irresistibly persuasive to young Esther. And here again, brothers and sisters, we see the beauty of God's plan, not only to save His people, but in His hidden sovereignty to transform Esther, as Leland Ryken says, from a beautiful young woman with a weak character into a person with heroic moral stature. So now, once she knows

what's happening, what's at stake, and that everything depends on her, listen to what she says, "Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law." And then again, those most famous words, "And if I perish, I perish." What, what a stunning transformation. What beautiful courage. What love for her people. How did this happen? Well, again, besides Mordecai's words, I think God used three hidden providences to bring about this transformation.

The first providence is what we've already said. It's the crossroads she's found herself in. She is forced to make a life-altering decision. When we face a crisis, we have to make heroic choices, and God has brought her to this crossroads in order to enable her to choose courageously. The second providence, I think, is her natural love for her people. Although she has lived as a Persian throughout much of the book, remember, her Jewish name is Hadassah.

She was and she is and she will always be a Jew. These are her people. And third, I think he, God used her long-standing habit of trusting and obeying Mordecai. Remember, she rai- he raised her as a daughter. She always trusted him. She always did what she, what he said. This has prepared her to obey him now when the stakes are so high. So God transforms Esther into a self-sacrificing mediator. "If I perish, and I might, I

perish." Now, we could end the sermon here, and we would have done justice to the text. But we would be so impoverished if we ended here. Because Esther as a self-sacrificing mediator must, to every Christian, lead us to look elsewhere. She points us to someone infinitely more important, our ultimate mediator, Jesus. We have a better mediator, one we can not only admire, but worship and follow. Charles Spurgeon once stated,

"No matter what text is being preached, even Esther, there is a road to Christ and the Gospel," and he said, "I would go over ditch and hedge to find it." But we don't even need to do this, do that here. We have a superhighway that leads us right to the better mediator. And I want to use a verse from Hebrews to show how Christ fulfills and supersedes what we see in Esther. The verse is Hebrews nine fi- fifteen. It says this:

"Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant." So let's think as we close about how Esther's mediation points to the better mediator. First, Esther's mediation was humanly uncertain. Mordecai says, "And who knows whether you have not come

to the kingdom for such a time as this?" But Jesus' mediation was divinely certain. Paul said, "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." Esther, it's possible this is your time to save your people from death so that they can continue to live on as citizens of the Persian Empire. Jesus, this is

the fullness of time. This is the absolute right time for you to save your people from eternal death so that they can live as sons and daughters in the Kingdom of God. Second, Esther's mediation makes it possible for the first covenant, specifically the Mosaic Covenant, to continue. The Mosaic Covenant is good. It's a God-given covenant. It's the covenant of law. It's necessary, but we know it cannot save. The blood of bulls and goats cannot pay for our

sins or relieve our guilty consciences. But Jesus' mediation brings about a new covenant, a covenant that writes God's law not on tablets of stone, but on our hearts. It brings a deep intimacy with God for even the least and the weakest of saints, and it puts our sins so far away that they will be forgotten and never, ever, ever held against us. Third, Esther's mediation secures that God's people can live on in PersiaFar from the promised land.

And each of them, including Esther and Mordecai, are gonna die eventually. Jesus' mediation brings eternal life in the very presence of God, in heaven itself, the ultimate promised land, and a promised eternal inheritance that Peter says is imperishable and undefiled and unfading. Fourth, Esther's mediation was made possible because Esther faced, bravely faced the possibility of death. If I perish, I perish. As it turns out,

spoiler alert, she didn't perish. But Jesus' mediation, it wasn't made possible, it was actualized because Jesus le- Jesus willingly faced the certainty of death, bearing the weight of all the accumulated sin and depravity and outrageous rebellion of each one of us. So Jesus says, "If I perish, you live." And finally, Esther's mediation comes when she finally identifies herself with God's people. First, Esther had not made

known her people or her kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. She appeared at that time to be content to identify herself as a Persian and to go with the flow. But finally, by God's grace, she says, "Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa and hold a fast on my behalf, and then I will go to the king, and if I perish, I perish." So she finally identifies with her people. But Jesus came immediately

identifying with his people, not only with Jews, but Gentiles, not only with Gentiles, but sinners. In Matthew 3, we see John the Baptist baptizing people in the Jordan River, and Jesus presents himself to be baptized by John. And John says, "No, no, this isn't right. You should baptize me." Jesus says, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Jesus is identifying with sinners to the point of undergoing a

sinner's baptism. But he not only identifies us-- with us as sinners, amazingly, he calls us friends. In John 15, Jesus says, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." Again, Jesus says, "If I perish, you will live." So as we close, I want you to consider two things as you leave this place tonight. First of all, consider where are you tempted to compromise or hide your identity?

If you find yourself in that position tonight, James directs us to turn to God. He says this, "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Mourn and weep," that sounds like Esther. "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you." So consider how and where are you tempted to compromise. Second, more importantly, consider the greatness and the glory of your great mediator who

perished in your place. The Apostle John leads us in worship as we close tonight. Here's what he says in the Book of Revelation, "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom and priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever." Let's pray.

Lord, we humble ourselves before you tonight. We know that we are sinners, but we confess that we are redeemed sinners, every single person who has put their faith in Christ. And your redemption is more gracious, more comprehensive, more forgiving, more life-transforming, and more destiny-securing than we could ever imagine. And it's all, Father, because you loved us so much, even in our deadness, even in our rebellion, through s- you sent

your own Son to be the atonement for our sins and so that we could live before you. Would you help us to believe this? And if we're aware of any sin tonight, to turn to you in repentance and confession, and receive and enjoy and bless you for the forgiveness and new life you give us in the Spirit. And Lord, we pray that we would be eager witnesses to Christ. Bless us, Lord, as we close in song and as we live for you this week,

and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.