Sermon: The Chosen Queen

Good evening, ed, my welcome to Pastor Jason's uh, and invite you to take a Bible and turn to the book of Esther. If you are looking for it in your Bible, you can open to the middle and you'll probably find Job or Psalms and it's a little book right before those two. If you have a Pew Bible, it is on page 410. Before we read God's word, let's go to him in prayer one more time.

Father, we come before you tonight and ask Lord that, that you would help us to come expectantly and that you would work through your word into our hearts and minds, that we might see wondrous things in your word. Would you enlarge our hearts and our affections for you where you enlarge our minds and our knowledge of you as we think about you In these next few minutes, pray these things in the name of your son Christ.

Amen. Tonight we are going to look at verses one through 18 of Esther chapter two. Listen now as I read for this is the very word of God

After these things, when the anger of King aHUS had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. Then the king's young men who attended him said, let beautiful young virgins be brought out for the king and let the king appoint officers and all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem and Susa the citadel under custody of Hagi the king's eunuch

who is in charge of the women, let their cosmetics be given them and let the young women who pleases the king be queen instead of vashti. This please the king. And he did so. Now there was a Jew in Susa, the Citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son Ofir son of Shamai, son of Kish, a Benjamin Knight who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captive's, carried away with Giah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away.

He was bringing up Hadassah that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle. For she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at. And when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. So when the king's order and his edict were proclaimed and when many young women were gathered insa the citadel in custody of Haggai, Esther also was taken into the king's palace

and put in custody of Haggai who had charge of the women. And the young woman pleased him and won his favor and he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her portion of food and with seven chosen young women from the king's palace and advanced her and her young women to the best place in the harem. Esther had not made known her people or kindred for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. And every day Mordecai walked in front of the court

of the harem to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her. Now when the turn came for each young woman to go into King Ahasuerus after being 12 months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and ointments for women, when the young woman went into the king in this way, she was given whatever she desired to take

with her from the harem to the king's palace. In the evening she would go in and in the morning she would return to the second harem in custody of SKAs, the king's eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not go into the king again unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name When the turn came for Esther, the daughter of Aha, the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her as his own daughter to go into the king,

she asked for nothing except what Haggai the king's eunuch who had charged of the woman advised now Esther was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her. And when Esther was taken to King Serus into his royal palace in the 10th month, which is the month of Teth in the seventh year of his reign, the king loved Esther more than all the women and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins so that he set the royal crown on her head

and made her queen instead of Vashti. Then the king gave a great feast for all his officials and servants. It was Esther's feast. He also granted a remission of taxes to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity.

I've been telling people all week that I am preaching a beauty pageant on Sunday night. Uh, and it's not totally untrue, but I hope as we look into this a little bit more, you'll see there is a lot more here. Last week we began our series through the book of Esther and Dave Hinkley laid out a couple of questions that this book will seek to answer. Will God carry through on his promises? Will God preserve his people in desperate circumstances?

The answer to both is an unequivocal yes and tonight we will begin to see the unfolding of God's provision for his people before the circumstances even arise in which they will need such provision. As we consider these verses tonight, we are going to first work our way through the story to get a clearer picture of what is going on. Then we'll examine the story again through a specific lens before concluding, by considering a general principle

that this story illustrates. So first what I want us to do is just think about what happens in this story. There are four sections of our passage and for the sake of being able to to track and refer to what is happening, I've given each section a title. In verses one through four we see the suggestion verses five through 11 we have the introduction, 12 through 14, the presentation, and then in 15 through 18 the selection.

So we're gonna work our way through these four sections. First, the suggestion in verses one through four in chapter one, queen Vashti disobeys the king and is permanently banished from his presence. Now as we begin chapter two, the anger of the king has subsided and he remembers, he remembers what Vashti has done and that she is no longer his queen and we don't know exactly when he remembers. Chapter one we see occurs in the third year of his reign

and our story tonight will end in the seventh year of his reign. As you can see in verse 16. So there are four years between the events of chapter one and Esther becoming queen. Many commentators believe for the first three of those years the king was off fighting against the Greeks. So it might be that he, he woke up the next morning and remembers what has happened or it might be upon his return from fighting. But whatever the timing as the king remembers the events

of chapter one, there are some young men around him and and these seem to be different than the advisors, the men who were present with him in chapter one, but these young men regularly attend to him and he either tells these men what is on his mind or perhaps they notice that something is weighing on his mind, ask him about it. But either way, they suggest a solution. It is time to find a new queen In chapter one, the qualification for this new queen is one

who is better than Vashti. Here in chapter two, the qualifications seem to be one beautiful, two young, three unmarried. So the suggestion from the young men, men is that a bunch of women from across the kingdom who meet these criteria be gathered together, brought to the king and then he can pick from the options the one who pleases him to be the new queen. And this idea sounds good to the king and so he orders it to be done.

And that brings us to the second part of our story, the introduction In verse five, there is a scene change as we move from the palace and we meet to new characters. Mordecai is described as a Jew who is of the tribe of Benjamin and descended from Kish, which means that he is related to Saul, the first king of Israel. This information will factor into the story moving forward, but what is important here is that Mordecai is an Israelite,

a member of the descendants of Abraham and one of God's people. We also learned that one of his ancestors was part of those brought to Babylon with King Kinaya, which means that Mordecai's family has not lived in Israel for over 200 years yet despite having generations of his family born in exile, the very first thing we learn about him even before we learn his name, is that he is a Jew. We also meet Hades, Sah or Esther

and Orphan who is being raised by Mordecai. Her cousin Esther is young, she is beautiful and she is unmarried. In other words, she meets the criteria that the officers appointed by the king are looking for. And so when they come through her province, Esther is among the women who are gathered up. She's taken into the palace and she is placed in the charge of Hegi who is pleased with her and gives her preferential treatment.

We also learned that Esther has not revealed her ethnic identity as we see in verse five. Mordecai is identified from the start as a Jew and although it is not explicitly stated in the text, it is clear from her relation to Mordecai and her possessing a Jewish name that Esther is also a Jew, but this is a fact that she keeps hidden under the direction of her cousin. We're told that Mordecai has taken Esther as his own daughter and he continues to demonstrate

and cons, uh, express his concern for her by checking in every day to see what he could learn about how she was doing and what was going on with her. So now we have been introduced to Mordecai and to Esther and we move to verses 12 through 14, the presentation. This zooms back out to the general picture of the search for a replacement queen. Having gathered many young women, they each go through a year long beauty process

before being presented to the king. I admittedly don't know very much about beautification in this way, but apparently this is a regular amount of time, six months with oil of meh and another six months with spices and ointments. And after this year of oils and spices and ointments, they were ready to meet the king and they would take turns going into him getting to select what they brought in with them. They would spend the night with the king effectively

becoming one of his wives, and in the morning they would emerge and would join the harem of the concubines. They would live their lives as one of the king's wives, but would see only see him again if he summoned them by name.

And then that brings us to the climax of the story. The selection having described the process that all of the women went through, the focus shifts back to Esther in verse 15. It is now her turn to go in to the king and we are quickly again reminded of who she is being raised by her father's nephew, her cousin Mordecai, the Jew. As it comes time for her to have her night with the king, she takes the advice of Hagi, the king's eunuch,

who has shown her favor, brings with her only what he recommends. We are told that Esther is winning favor with everyone who sees her and she wins grace and favor with the king as well who loves her more than all the other women. He chooses her out of the many beautiful young women, places the royal crown on her head making her the new queen. And we end this part of the story in the same place that the book of Esther began in chapter one except four

years later with a feast this time in honor of the new Queen, Esther's feast and all of the kingdom celebrates as there is a remission of taxes and gifts given with royal generosity. As the story comes to a conclusion, there is a new queen, queen Esther, and there is much celebration and generosity throughout the kingdom.

What I want to focus in on and and what I want you to notice is how this story as it is told, bounces back and forth between looking at the events in general and focusing on Esther in particular the suggestion in verses one and four, reveal the plan from these young men to find a new queen and deal in general with solving the problem of a king without a queen. The introduction in verses five through 11, zooms in on two seemingly insignificant people

among all the people in the kingdom and introduces them to the reader. The presentation in verses 12 through 14 describes the execution of the plan to find this queen, what every woman goes through before she meets the king, their presentation before the king and what happens after. And then verses 15 to 18 tell the story of the selection as Esther of Esther as the new queen, focusing again in on this woman who is now a queen

with a feast given in her honor. The text starts zoomed out, focuses in on Esther, zooms back out and then narrows its focus again. In conclusion, this is just good storytelling. It makes for an interesting and a captivating narrative, but it also teaches us something.

In Proverbs 16, nine, the author writes, the heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. The story of Esther being selected as queen as it bounces back and forth between the plans of the king as he seeks to choose a queen. And between Esther, the young woman who will be God's chosen queen to save his people is a narrative display

of the truth expressed by this proverb. Men plan their way, but the Lord establishes their steps and I want to look at this story again through this lens by considering two things I want to consider the work of men to choose a new queen and the work of God to establish his chosen queen. So the work of men to choose a new queen, consider all the plans in the hearts of men that went into the process of Esther becoming the queen.

The young men devise a plan, the king approves and orders it. Officers are sent to every province to seek out beautiful, unmarried young women for the king to select from. We are told in chapter one verse one that king Ahha reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces. That is a lot of provinces and officers were sent to all of them. These officers did the work of looking at women and finding the prettiest ones who were unmarried

and presumably they brought back young women from many if not all of these provinces. This is no small endeavor. And then once the women were gathered, many as verse eight describes them, they are housed. They're per provided food and cosmetics and attendance. They're put through a year long beauty routine of oils and spices and ointments. They're given a turn with the king after which they will either be made the new queen

or they will be cared for in the palace for the rest of their lives as concubines of the king.

I did not try to do any calculations this week. I wouldn't know where to start, but it doesn't take much of an imagination to recognize that this was a big commitment for the king and for the kingdom. This took a lot of time, energy, money, and manpower to put this plan into action and to find a new queen.

In addition to the general scope of the project, we're given a glimpse into the labors of some specific people. Hey, guy is given charge over all of the women and we have no reason to believe that he did not care faithfully for them all and yet he does seem to have favorites and Esther is one of those and so he does what he can to try to give her the best shot. He puts her in the best place in the harem and he advises her on what she should bring in

with her when she is presented before the king, it seems that Haggai is rooting for Esther and he does what work he can to assist her in becoming Queen Esther herself makes an effort towards the goal as well. Being selected as part of the harem was likely not optional, but once she is taken to the palace, she is active in the process. We are told three different times that she was favored in verse nine with Hagi in verse 15 with all who saw her

and then in verse 17, with the king in each instance, the favor is accompanied by a fairly odd verb to win. Usually in the scriptures one will be given favor or fine favor or be shown favor. Ster in every instance wins favor demonstrating an active attempt and effort at procuring such goodwill. Mordecai also engages in planning to help Esther succeed, especially by advising her to keep silent on her people and her kindred.

And then checking in on her regularly the king, the young men, the officers, the attendants, Hagi, Mordecai, Esther herself. There was much work in planning on the part of men that went into the process and the end of it all was Esther chosen as the new queen.

That is the work of men. But what about the work of God to establish his chosen queen? God is famously not mentioned in the book of Esther, but his fingerprints are everywhere. Consider a number of things that are happening in the background. First there is the fact that there is an opening at all for Esther to fill another Jew in exile. Daniel reminds us about God. In the second chapter of his book, he changes times and seasons.

He removes kings and he sets up kings. He does the same for queens. He has removed Vashti to make way for Esther. Second, Esther is orphaned. We don't know what happened to her mother and father except that they had died. And we know from the scriptures that it is God who numbers all our days before one of them comes to be. And this death of her mother and father has put her providentially in the care of her cousin, placed both of them in the place

that they needed to be for the Lord to use them to deliver his people. Third, the king remembered. This might seem fairly obvious, but as we saw earlier, the timing is a little unclear. Remember there is a total of four years that pass between the events of chapter one and the and the end of our story. Tonight. He was off at war for part of that time and at some point over the course of those three years, the king remembered what Vashti had done

and what had been decreed against her. And it was not a mistake that he remembered and that he remembered when he did. This is not the last time in the book of Esther that we will see God bring something to memory at just the right time. If it had been earlier, perhaps Esther would've been too young or not have come to live with Mordecai yet. If it had been too late, perhaps she would've been married already. But at just the right time, God reminded the king,

he brought it to memory.

Fourth, Esther is beautiful. The psalmist tells us that God knit her together in her mother's womb and he did so in such a way that she had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at. God gave her beauty and he would use that for his purposes. He caused it to happen that she was noticed and gathered with the women who were taken into the palace. And once there she wins favor. She may have put forth effort toward that end,

but God gives her success in her endeavor. Consider how many other young women likely sought the same favor but were unsuccessful. God gives Esther favor with Haggai favor with all who looked upon her and finally favor with the king. And the end result of all of this work of God is that his chosen instrument is made Queen, who would've thought an orphan and exile has the royal crown set on her head. Both the work of man

and the work of God yield the same result. Esther a Jew, one of God's people, something that was hidden from man, but this was not hidden from God is the queen of 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia, two plans converge the plans of men and the plans of God as the king of Persia chose the king of kings chosen queen. The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

In light of that, I want us to use the rest of our time together to consider a principle that is illustrated by what we have seen here in Esther. Two, God sovereignly reigns and he uses means God, sovereignly, reigns, and he uses means.

A frequent challenge in the Christian life is to understand how God's activity in this world interacts with our efforts. How does our work of evangelism interface with God's work of salvation? How does prayer impact a God who knows all things and rules over all things? What difference does it make what we do and how we live?

Some of you may be tempted to ask, does any of what we do matter at all or are we just going through the motions? Others may be tempted to believe that everything depends on us and God is watching and hoping that we just get it right. It's easy to think too highly of ourselves and our abilities, and it is easy to think too little of God's ability to work in and through us. As Christians, we must hold two things in tension.

God sovereignly reigns and he uses means or as one commentator put it, God is able to deliver and protect his people through providential ordering of circumstances, not just through dramatic miracles. God ruling over this world and accomplishing his purposes can and will sometimes involve dramatic miracles, but often usually he will establish his plans through providentially ordering what seem like normal circumstances and events.

There are countless examples throughout the scripture of God working his will through the work and plans of men as we see here in Esther. Nowhere is this maybe more clearly seen than in the birth and death of Jesus At just the right time, God used a census to bring a pregnant Mary to Bethlehem in fulfillment of the prophecy. And when his time had come, Peter tells his hearers in Acts two, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan

and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men, as in Esther. Two, the plans of men and the plans and purposes of God converged the one plotting to kill Jesus, to neutralize a threat and the other planning his death to provide a sacrificial substitute to save men from their sins. The end result is that God's definite plan is accomplished through the work of men. God's sovereignly reigns

and he uses means. I wanna leave you tonight with two exhortations from these realities. First, God sovereignly reigns so trust in his character and promises even though you can't see everything, God sovereignly reigns so trust in his character and promises even though you can't see everything, most of you will not this side of heaven get to know all the whys of what God is doing in and through you. The scriptures give you glimpses of

how God works in people's lives. Tonight you get to see Esther to help you to trust him in your own circumstances. There may be times when it seems like someone else or something else is in control, but God is always on his throne. There may be and will be uncertainty in your experience, but with God there is only and always certainty. This also serves as a reminder that opposing God and his work is a futile endeavor.

We focus tonight on the ways that the plans of God and the plans of man converged in success. But remember, there were likely many young women who had plans of their own, whose efforts were of no avail. And we will see as we continue through this book that you cannot and will not frustrate the plans of God.

Attempting to do so will only yield your own frustration. So submit your plans and to the purposes and to the will of God. And at the same time, when it seems like others are trying to undermine God's work in the world, when it seems like they are at odds with what God is trying to do and perhaps that they will be successful, you don't have to worry. Their efforts will only serve to accomplish the plans of the one that they are seeking to thwart.

Where do you need to trust that God is at work? What do you need to remember and believe and clinging to about God and his character and his promises? As you walk through this world by faith and not by sight, where do you need to submit your plans to God's purposes? It's my second exhortation. God uses means so be faithful with what he has given you and where he has placed you. God uses means so be faithful with what he has given you

and where he has placed you. We just finished a faith focus on stewardship last month, Esther stewarded her beauty, her ability to win people over and eventually her position. What have you been given by God? Where have you been placed? What unique opportunities has he put before you? How can you be wise and faithful and obedient in those places?

It's important to note faithfulness will look different for different people. Daniel and Esther are both upheld as faithful servants and instruments of God during the exile of God's people. For Daniel that meant rejecting the king's food, standing out and highlighting his identity as one of God's people. For Esther, her time will come, but for now it means hiding her identity. Eating the palace food and blending and faithfulness will not always mean the same

thing for every Christian. We need to look to God to guide us and to each other for wisdom, as Esther did with Mordecai. Faithfulness may look different for different Christians, but God's sovereign rule rather than discourage you from faithful work should encourage you to be diligent knowing that you don't have to be perfect. His purposes will prevail and that he is willing and able to use even the feeble list of our attempts as part

of his glorious work. So be diligent. Lay aside the sin that so closely clings to you. Run with perseverance the race marked out for you. Knowing that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to bring it to completion. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that it is God who works in you to will and to work according for to his good purpose. God sovereignly reigns and he uses means be faithful

and trust him. Do you pray with me now

Father, as we consider this story of Esther, of you bringing her to the place where you need her to be, would you encourage us about your work and in our lives and in this world? Would you help us to be faithful to the work that you have called us to? Would you give us diligence as we seek after you? And would you bring about Lord, the fulfillment of your promises? And would you work your holy wise and good will and purposes in

our lives and in this world? Pray these things in the name of your son Christ. Amen.