God is working his purposes out

Thank you, Ken.

I instructed this morning that maybe you could read this at home and you could begin to see the hand of God.

I trust you did that, and if not, that I will again create and stir up an interest in you so that you will do that in the next chapter. You may remember last time when we introduced the book of Esther. We pointed out that the book is full of so called coincidences.

And then I gave a couple examples. One being the timing of the king's calling for the reading of the chronicles of his reign. And then at the very time that was read, there was noise heard on the outside and he asked who it was and it was Haman and the king wishing to reward Mordecai. And Haman was there to ask for the death of Mordecai. Coincidence?

Well, I say that only because it's going to get more exciting as we go through. But today is very exciting too. You see, God's name is absent in this book, but his hand of Providence is everywhere in this book.

Last week we pointed out that the hand of God is obvious in wicked kings like King Assurance.

The six month feast had much drunkenness in it. And in a drunken stupor he wanted to show off not only his gold and all of his possessions, but his wife too.

However, it was wrong in Persia for a wife to be displayed in such a manner as he was requesting. And she refused him.

And he was very angry about it and called his advisors and they said, if you let her get by with this, all of our wives will rebel against us. And he said that's true. And he decided to dethrone her. And the chapter ended of course with the king's wife losing her crown and being rooted out of her out of the palace.

Now historians say that about this time there was between chapter one and chapter two, one of the great wars. They've been running it on the History Channel and I've enjoyed it twice. It was the war between Persia and Greece. Any of you see it? Yes, Steve saw it, fantastic display of it.

But at that time there was a a lot of Greece that would not caucao to the king of Persia. And as a result he decided to go to war against them. And he gathered up 180,000 men and headed for Greece. That was the largest army that had ever been at that time in history, up till that time in history that had ever been gathered together.

The record shows that they also had a great navy and the navy came as well. Now Greece, Athens was greatly known for their navy and the Spartans was Greatly known for their military on the ground. And between the Spartans and the Athenians, King Assuras, known as Xerxes, was terribly defeated and he went home. And so it's said by many historians that during this time that he was off to war, Esther was preparing, along with all the other virgins that were chosen. And when he would get back, he would pick his bride.

So perhaps, as close as we can tell, that can tie a little history into it as well. It is an interesting story, if that ever comes on History Channel. You would really, I think you would really enjoy it. Of course, I like history, and so I enjoyed it.

So we've entitled this chapter God Working His Purposes Out. And I could have entitled every chapter in the Book of Esther that.

But I'm going to just start with this and then hope it'll carry through for the rest of them for you. As we give them different titles, you'll still remember this title in each one of them. Two purposes are before us today in order to accomplish his great purpose. The first one is to exalt Esther to be queen, and the second one is to exalt Mordecai. Two purposes.

Both of those are necessary for the ultimate purpose in this book, to save Israel from annihilation. That's the ultimate goal. There is going to be a point in this book when Israel could be wiped out in totality, at least in the Persian empire, and that would be totality, for they ruled the world and God is preparing to protect his people as he so greatly promised. So the chapter two begins with God's purpose to exalt Esther. God is behind the scenes controlling the activities that take place here.

And if you didn't see it when Ken read it, I want you to see it now as we explain what's going on. Notice first of all, what do we do? He's just dethroned Vasti as queen. What's next? Again, he goes back to his advisors and they suggest that he picks some beautiful young maidens called virgins in our context, beautiful young ladies from all the providence of all over the empire and send them at a certain time together and prepare themselves.

And one would be picked by the king to be his new queen. God is sovereign folks, and a sovereign God has supreme authority over all his dominion. And God reigns over everything. And everything that happens is done according to his will, one way or another. That's not always easy to explain.

We just know that the Bible says our God is in heaven and he does whatever he pleases. He's sovereign. But he's not just sovereign, and you have to always balance that. But he's good.

He's good. His providence is are kind and certain. And all that he decides will happen and all that happens will be for the good of his people. Even the worst imaginable things, he has promised to turn them to be good for us. You all know Romans 8:28.

Well, there's some Romans 8:28s in the old Testament too. Yeah, and you'll find him as you study them. So God is sovereign, but that needs to be balanced with the fact that God is good. And thirdly, that God is providential. He is not limited to time and space.

What he determines, he brings to pass without limitations. And it does not happen by luck or by chance. God don't have those words in his vocabulary.

And you'll recall the disaster, I mean the disaster of disasters, when this fine, young handsome boy named Joseph was specially loved by his father, causing the other children, 10 at that time, to be extremely jealous of him. And so they sought to kill him. But in turn, at the last minute he was spared and sold to the Ishmaelites and the Midianites. And then he went off down to Egypt. This is a grand example of what I've said about the God who is sovereign, the God who is good, and the God who is providential.

And of course, there he is bought by Potipar. And he everything he touches turns to prosperity for Potipar. So it puts him in charge of everything except his wife. And his wife wants handsome Joseph. And Joseph flees the bedroom scene and the wife lies and Potiphar, I mean Joseph, ends up in jail.

Still, though Joseph is the man of God's love and choice. And so everything in the jail goes smooth when Joseph is in charge, and he puts him in charge of more and more. And though it's the jail, there's peace, tranquility, and everything is great under Joseph's care until he's put in charge of the whole thing. And at last the stories of the dreams that he interprets. And finally the interpretation and finally the exaltation to where he's next to Pharaoh.

And then the famine in answer to the dreams that Joseph had. And then his brothers come down and they don't recognize him. Many years have passed, remember. It's a great story, isn't it? Can you see the hand of God yet?

Now that you have hindsight, can you see God in all this? At last he reveals himself to his brothers after three visits. And Joseph said to his brothers, please come near to me. So they came near, and he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you saw sold into Egypt. But now do not, therefore, be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here.

For God sent me before you to preserve life. Isn't that wonderful that Joseph could see the hand of God. The boys didn't, but the man of God saw it, and we ought to see it too. For these two years of famine have been in the land, and there will be five more years where there will not be any plowing or harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve a prosperity for you on the earth and to save your lives by great deliverance.

So now it was not you who sent me here, but God.

And he has made me a father to Pharaoh and the Lord of all his house and the ruler throughout the land of Egypt. And then if we Skip through about five more chapters and come to chapter 50, verse 19, Joseph said to them, do not be afraid, for I am not in the place of God, still speaking to his brothers who still feared some retaliation. I am not in the place of God. But as for you, you vented evil against me, but God met it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day and to save many people alive. And I suggest to you that's what we mean when we say God is sovereign, God is good, and God is providential.

He works behind the scenes as much as his face was seen in the mirror, very much involved. And so the advisors come to Ahasuerus the king, and they say, I think you should pick beautiful young maidens from all the provinces. Who's behind that? There, you're getting the picture. God is, this is the way that Esther can be included and at last be picked, isn't it?

In order to ultimately save Israel from annihilation, God controls all the actions of men and accomplishes purposes which are, in this case, to deliver Israel ultimately. Now, normally, kings will take wives from one of the seven nobles of Persia, but God overruled the normally because he wanted Esther.

God spoke through these advisors just as sure as he spoke to Cyrus the king when he sent people, allowed the people to go back to the land. Just a few years earlier, God spoke. Esther or Mordecai did not put that into the king's mind. For Esther and Mordecai were a nobody at that time. No one knew who they were.

So God controls the suggestions made by the king's advisors. Secondly, in verses 5 through 7, he controlled the natural beauty and the background of Esther.

I Dare not read this all over again. I hope that you heard Ken well and read it this afternoon. Esther was a Jew. Esther was a Jew. Her name was Hadassah.

Hadassah. She was called Esther by the Persians and named after the God Estar of the Persians, a Babylonian goddess of love.

Likely they changed the names from Hadassah to Esther in order to get their mind off of their background of wow. It was when they were a Jew, because now you're a Persian.

Her parents were both dead, and so she was raised by her uncle, and her uncle's name was Mordecai. Mordecai is also a Babylonian name after their state God, Marduk.

That was not his original line. She was of the line of King Saul, a daughter of Kish.

Her beauty was amazing.

Now, where did she get that beauty?

And as you let your finger go through the Bible, you come to Psalms 139. And the last two thirds of that psalm is all about how Esther got that beauty. Yeah, it is. One little verse says, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works.

And that my soul knows very well.

Now, can you put that together and say that God didn't make you the way you are?

God made Esther the beautiful woman for his purposes, for his glory.

He gave her the beauty that she had while she was yet in the womb of her mother.

Josephus says about Esther's beauty, she surpassed all women in beauty in the entire habitable world. Josephus don't know, but that was an interesting statement where one of the rabbis write about her beauty. She is one of the four most beautiful women in history, along with Sarah, Rahab and Abigail. He don't know either, but it's interesting. Obviously.

Obviously she was a very beautiful woman. And to the one we give the glory of the beauty is God. Praise the God for the beauty of Esther.

But it is unwise, isn't it, to choose a wife by her outward beauty? For in Proverbs 31, it reminds us, charm is deceitful and beauty is passing. I keep forgetting that when I see my wife, she's still beautiful, but it's passing. Don't tell her that. But she will always be beautiful in my eyes.

Attractiveness may cover up a very ugly person, but I think I've analyzed it right when I say Esther was beautiful all the way.

So God controlled her natural beauty, and God controlled her background. And in verses 8 and 9, God controlled a man named Haggai.

Haggai. He's the eunuch that was in charge of all these Women. What a job, huh? You fellas think about that a little bit, how would you do? Might be a little tough, right?

Keep your mind on your work. I hear some chuckles, but I think it's mainly the women this life, huh?

Anyway, Haggai was in the hands of God. The outcome is always with God.

God's will is being worked out through Hegai, another link in this chain.

And she becomes number one in a guy's eyes. And she gets to be. She's put in unit A, not unit Q or Z. She's in unit A, top of the line of the choices. And he takes special attention for her and tells her just what to do to make herself even more beautiful and smelly.

Smell good.

Pasties are applied to lighten the skin and remove the blemishes and perfume and cosmetic to enhance the aroma.

Little did the world know of the unfading beauty of a gentle and a quiet spirit, the beauty of holiness.

Things that I think those who around Esther saw as much as they saw her facial beauty.

Something attracted them to her beside her features. I'm convinced that if you went to all the providence of the known world, there would have been a lot of beautiful women. But it seems like as I read this account, nobody compared to Esther what made the difference. I think it was the inside coming out.

Not saying she wasn't very beautiful on the outside, I'm sure she was. But there was something about her that caused everybody, it says, to see her in a special way.

God controlled Esther's selection by Haggai.

He controlled the advice she receives in verse 10 through 15. Advice from Mordecai. Mordecai had acted as her father and forbid her to reveal her nationality. In the Septuagint it describes Mordecai as having a dream and foretelling a coming crisis and how God would meet that crisis.

At least God's will is clearly being worked out through Mordecai's advice. By keeping quiet, it didn't become an issue. All that was an issue was her beauty.

She also received advice from Haggai. When it was time for her to go in before the king, Haggai gave her good advice. She was favored by him and Esther was wise to take his advice and to not do anything that she thought would enhance her beauty, but to take the advice of Haggai the professional. Just as she had learned to take the advice of Mordecai all these years, she was free to take this man's as well.

You see part of God's amazing providence in working his will out comes through advice of wise people.

Do I need to say that again? Part of the way God works out his will in the lives of people is through the advice of wise people.

And he gave good advice, used Mordecai, and he used Hagi for that purpose. Two more links in the chain of getting God's sovereign purposes worked out.

Now, as we get down to verse 16, 17, 18, 19, we see that the king really likes Esther. There doesn't seem to be any runner up. I see no hint in here that anybody else caught his eye. Of all the beautiful women, all he could see is Esther. Now that's pretty ridiculous when you think about it.

All the most beautiful women in all of Persia, a great nation, scattered all over countries.

How did that happen? That his choice was so clear, it was so obvious to him that he immediately poured out his love and his grace upon her instead of the others? Well, it's obvious to me that God, that God caused him to see only Esther. That's what I see. God in his providence had Esther to be the next king.

That was God's will. That was God's purpose. And so what would you expect him to do but to cause the king to see only Esther and to love her? He didn't pull strings. He, the king loved her.

He wasn't shoved and pushed into loving her, he just plain loved her and poured out gifts according to the grace of a king.

Then a feast was held.

I suppose all the unsuccessful candidates was. There probably was a farewell feast and an honor feast for Esther because it was called the Feast of Esther.

And Esther sat beside the king and on her head was a crown. She's now the queen.

God's purpose is to exalt Esther, and he did.

There's a chain of events leading up to this, one right after the other as God moved in each link of the chain to bring about his purpose to crowning Esther queen because he's. It's needful to preserve his people for wicked Haman will see him annihilated.

Now, his purpose is not just to exalt Esther, but his purpose also is to assault Mordecai. And Beginning at verse 19, we learn that there's a plot to have the king killed. And Mordecai goes and tells Esther, who's now the queen, and Esther tells the king and the men, and it's checked out and sure enough, and the men are hung in the gallows.

I wonder how Esther, I mean, I wonder how Mordecai heard it. Well, if you Notice what it says in verse 19, when virgins were gathered together a second time, Mordecai sat within the king's gate. And then again in verse 21, in those days, while Mordecai sat within the king's gate. Fascinating, isn't? Seems like they no more than got married.

Of course, it may have been months until Esther is telling her husband, there's a man that is very wise, that ought to be one of your judges.

You ought to check out Mordecai, he would make a good judge for you. He's a very wise man. For here's Mordecai now, a Mr. Nobody now sitting in the king's gates. And folks, if you didn't know the gate was the place like the courthouse, it's the place where city business is transacted in the legal status judicially, it looks like. And all my commentaries say that Mordecai's now a judge.

And so he's had a place and in a position where his ears hear all kinds of things, and somehow he hears about this plot to have the king killed. Isn't that interesting? Wonder how he happened to be at the right place at the right time. Are you know how? Because God has set it up that way so that he can exalt Mordecai.

Because he's going to need him a little later.

He's going to need him a little later.

Herodias in his history says that he was a new judge appointed through Esther's influence. He's probably right.

It could have been that the king wouldn't have found the trouble, and then Mordecai might have been in trouble, and it might have been Mordecai that was hung in the gallows. But they did find that the report from Mordecai was true, and he was protected from all that. And God seen to it that it was exposed, that the people that come to check it out found out. All those little things seem so small and insignificant, but they're so important.

God wishes to exalt Mordecai, not to judge folks. No, no, no, he's already there. But at a later time he's going to need Mordecai to expose Haman.

Well, Esther's going to expose him. I'll wait and tell that to you later. But he is setting him up for later. All we hear here is the king watched while the that while the event was written down in the chronicles of the king, that it was Mordecai that had spared the king's life, that reported this plot, then it's forgotten. The king gets all busy with maybe another war or something and he forgets all about it until sometime later, just at the right time.

Later though, in the plan and purposes of God, the unseen God is working out his purposes to save Israel from annihilation. When nothing seems to be happening. Folks, listen to me please. When nothing seems to be happening, do you think God's sleeping? You think God's on a vacation?

You think God doesn't care?

Wouldn't that have been easy for Israel to think that at that time in Persia, how many people do you think saw the hand of God while all this was happening? Oh, we've got beautiful vision. As we see look back on it, we can see it all. They didn't see it. But just because you don't see it doesn't mean God isn't working out his purposes in the purpose and time for what he has promised to do.

Bring to pass the hand of God. In our chapter was determined to exalt Esther and he's determined to exalt Mordecai. Esther could not have suggested how a king should have found a new queen, right? She was a Mr. Nobody, nobody knew who she was. So it couldn't have been come from Esther or accident.

Esther had nothing to do with her natural beauty. Esther could not ensure that she would be chosen as a candidate. Esther could not cause Haggai to grant her special favors and preferred treatment. Esther could not have made the king choose her. But God could do all those things and God did.

No one saw the hand of God, except perhaps Esther and Mordecai and a few godly Jews were seeing it. And I suggest to you, let's not miss it now that we got the full view by reading the book. You can read through Esther and never see this.

And I say I hope there's never a time that you ever read Esther chapter two and don't see how God is working out his purposes. Thank you Father for the book of Esther. Thank you for working out your purposes then and now in Jesus name, amen.

Let's stand and sing a closing hymn. 252, please stand saying 252 only trust him.