Queen Esther, Episode 4, "For Such A Time As This" Subtitle: "Fasting to Deliverance"
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“For such a time as this were you born.” With these words, Mordecai compelled Esther to make her first critical move to destroy Haman's plan to kill all the Jews living in Persia. Now, this queen would be ready to risk her very life because she embraced the fact that she was born for this time. My name is Stephanie Wright. Thank you for joining us today as we learn that we too were born “for such a time as this.” Let's get started.
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So we're continuing our study of Esther. This is a contemporary study. We're bringing everything up to the present day and we are going to remind ourselves that the Bible is real and that we should apply it to our lives today. I always give a short intro because I don't know who is new that may be joining the study. So, the timeframe is about 480 years before Christ. It is in one of the most powerful empires, the Medo-Persian empire. And today it is in the Middle East, in modern day Iran. This is the biblical, historical account of a woman named Hadassah, but given the name Esther, who becomes Queen of Persia and saves her nation from being destroyed by an evil man named Haman. I call chapter 1, in Esther, “Divine Destiny” because that is when Queen Vashti was dethroned
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and that was when Esther came forth to become the new queen. That’s in chapter 2, “Favor and Grace.” That’s when Esther became queen. That’s what I call chapter 2. Chapter 3, I call “Obedience or Obeisance.” And obedience, we know what this is, but obeisance is when you bow down to someone and we learned last week that Mordecai refused to bow down before the evil man Haman because they were enemies. But also Mordecai said that he did not bow to anyone other than God. Chapter 4, has a lot of good areas that we are going to cover and I call that Fasting to Fast [also, "For Such A Time As This"]. So, let’s get started. Last week, in chapter 3, we ended with King Ahasuerus and Haman having a drink celebrating the plans to destroy the Jewish people who lived in the 127 provinces ruled by King Ahasuerus also known as King Xerxes.
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And we said that at that time, 44% of the known world's population was ruled by this man. His rule covered territory from India to
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Africa, as far as what he was ruling over. We begin this week with Mordecai in mourning over these plans that had been made to basically wipe out the Jewish people in that kingdom. Esther, chapter 4, verses 1 and 2, "When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; And came even before the king's gate: for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth." Verse 3. "And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes."
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So we see that the sackcloth and ashes was a form of mourning that was done by the Jewish people. Mordecai was in mourning because of the decree that had gone forth to kill the people who lived in those 127 provinces. What is very important here in verse 3, it says that the people were fasting. So the fasting began in chapter four. There was the fast before the fast, we give a lot of credit to Esther for going on the fast that we're going to talk about a little later, but there was a fast before her fast. Mordecai surely fasted with other Jews, even while he was in sackcloth and ashes. There's nothing wrong with mourning. We are going to cry. You know, we are still in this flesh. We are going to weep and depending on how painful some things are, we may wail, but we should fast, not just in times of mourning, but to prepare for those times when we are going to go through difficult times so that we can be strengthened.
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The fast will strengthen you. Amen. Verse 4. "So Esther's maids and her chamberlains came and told it her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he received it not." So here we have Esther being told that her foster father - and we have made it clear that this was her cousin, a lot of people say it was her uncle, but this was her cousin who raised her from a child - so, he was like a father to her. But I think it's a little strange that Esther did not first ask why her foster father was in such grief. She seemed more concerned about how he looked out there, wailing and throwing ashes on himself. You know, it would be kind of like us. If someone came to me and said, "Hey, Stephanie, your daddy is out there, girl, it's something wrong with him.
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He is flipping out. Or your mother's out there. I don't think the first thing that would come to my mind would be to send her some clothes. Send my mother some clothes to put on and take that sackcloth off. It wouldn't be my reaction. Or tell my daddy, "Take that sackcloth off." I would want to know what's going on. Why?" But that's not the first thing she asked. So, not sure why, but we'll see. She fixes that later. Possibly, she was ashamed of him. Who knows? I think about Micah, David's wife, who was ashamed of him when he danced out of his clothes. And that's in 2 Samuel, chapter 6, verse 20. We don't know, but it seems the first question she should have asked is why is he in mourning and in sackcloth and ashes. Verse 5. "Then called Esther for Hatach, one of the king's chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it was, and why it was."
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So now she does the right thing. She asks the question that should have been asked from the beginning. Why is Mordecai in mourning? Verses 6 and 7. "So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which was before the king's gate. And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and of the sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them." Remember we talked about this in one of the earlier chapters, Mordecai, obliges Hatach and tells him what is going on. He told Hatach that Haman has agreed to put into the treasury - we discussed this earlier - a sum that was equivalent to today's money of about $10 to $15 million.
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So why did he do that? The Jews that Haman planned to kill - and this is one of my understandings - they were taxpayers. So if that many people were killed, how would the money be replaced? So Haman agreed to put that amount of money into the treasury to cover this loss. And we learned that Haman, he hated the Jewish people and Mordecai ,did not think very highly of him because they were enemies. And we discussed the reason why. So you'll have to go back and do a little bit of study or review one of the previous messages as to why there was such hatred between these two. But for right now suffice it to say they were enemies. Verse 8. "Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to shew it unto Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go in unto the king, to make supplication unto him, and to make request before him for her people."
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Now Mordecai backed up what he was saying with the documentation, with the decree, he then told Esther what she needed to do. He charged her to do it. He encouraged her to do it. He basically said, this is what you must do. Like a father, he was giving her instruction what to do to save her people. So this is a good thing. When people are going to come to you and tell you certain things you want to say, show me, show me the proof. What is the proof of what you say? Or are you just talking out of your head? It's good to ask for some evidence to back things up, especially when it's a very serious matter. I mean, we don't sign contracts we shouldn't sign without reading it. So Mordecai is backing up what he says by giving Hatach the decree that was sent out saying that all of the Jewish people, including the children, were to be killed on a date.
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certain, and this was going to be in the month Adar. It was a date that had been set. It was a date that had been cast by lots. Haman apparently went to whoever the seers were, whoever the people were that were like their fortune tellers. And they actually threw the dice in a way to decide what day this massacre was to occur. And the date that was chosen was in the month of Adar. Verse 9. "And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai." Verse 10. "Again Esther spake unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai;" Verse 11. "All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or women, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom
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the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days." Esther was fully aware of the laws and what would happen to her life if she went into the king without being called. Even though she was the queen, even she could not go in to the king, unless she were called. There has been a lot of speculation as to why Esther had not been called in to the King in 30 days, but that's just speculation. The word doesn't tell us why. For 30 days he had not called for her. You know, maybe he was mad at her. Maybe he was going through something physical. We don't know, but I guess anybody, you know, can speculate as to why. So I'm going to speculate. I think it was part of the test from God.
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Just how much do you trust me, Esther? Just how much do you trust me Mordecai with the life of the child you raised, who would be Queen of Persia? How much do you trust me? Mordecai probably knew what the penalty was. Just like Abraham in Genesis 22, who was willing to be obedient unto God and make the sacrifice of his son to prove how much he trusted God. So this is a time for us to stop and think, how much do we trust God today? As far as our children go, have we totally given our children over to him and do we trust him to save and protect them or do we try to save them and actually think that we can protect them. We cannot. Like Mordecai and Abraham, we have to trust our children and grandchildren and loved ones, friends, people that we, you know, treat like, even though they're not our blood sister, brother, child, we treat them like they are a blood.
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We have got to learn to turn them over to God, completely, completely. Not hold on to part of it. You know, I think about Hannah, Hannah prayed and asked God to give her a son. And she told God, if you give me this son, I will give him back to you. And a lot of people don't understand that she literally meant that. That is literally what she did. She gave her son over to God. She gave her son to God so that God could use him. So that God would make him a great man, Samuel. Verse12. "And they told to Mordecai Esther's words." Verse 13. "Then Mordecai commanded to answer or Esther." [This is what he told her after she, she said, "Hey daddy, if I go in there, I could die. I could be killed. Do you know that?] But this is what Mordecai said. Verse 14. "Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews". For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place;
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but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Now let's just take a little break right there and remind ourselves that this is to us today. Especially those of us who know how to pray, especially to those of us who understand that there needs to be a fasting and prayer for deliverance. Those of us who know that we cannot just sit back and say, "Oh, I'm okay. So why do I need to be concerned about anybody else?" We have to realize that it is not just me, me, me. This is a "we" thing. This is an "us" thing. This is for everyone in the kingdom of God, even those who are lost. You know, we pray for our enemies because we are told to bless those who curse us.
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Yes, that's the command. So, "Esther," Mordecai tells her, "listen, honey, uh, is not about you now. It's about a whole nation of people. And as your daddy, yes, I love you, but who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this." I think, you know, it was a question, but he was also telling her, this is why you came to be queen. It's not because you all that. It's not because you were all that. God put his grace and favor on you, Esther. God put his grace and favor on us, people. God has opened our eyes to realize that it is "us" who have to go and march into hell and pray and fast for people to be delivered because they are blinded. Satan has blinded people. They're sitting up dying, know they're dying and don't care. That is just bondage.
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And it is, it is on us to pray and to fast, not to worry about it, just do what God says to do. Don't worry and cry and you know, fall all out if people don't want to accept your Jesus. You don't have to do that, but you do have to pray and fast and be a true soldier. Cause this is a war. This is a war for souls. So we're going to break these verses down a little bit more. So put your listening ears on. Okay? Cause I even learned a lot when I was doing this study. What did Mordecai mean by "Jews from another place" and "thy father's house" and to what kingdom was he referring? Let's go back and read verse 14 again. "For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place;
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but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" What is he talking about? All the Jews would not be destroyed because some of the Jews had already returned to Jerusalem when the Persians defeated the Babylonians. The Jews in Persia is the kingdom that would be destroyed. Recall, the Jewish people because of their disobedience were taken into captivity by the Babylonians. This did not happen just once, it happened three times. The Babylonians came back and took more and more Jewish people into captivity. It started around 600 BC, 600 years before Christ was born. It happened in three waves as I said. First, the Northern Kingdom was taken into captivity by the Babylonians. And we're talking about King Nebuchadnezzar. Remember there were12 tribes. Ten of those tribes were in the Northern Kingdom when the kingdom split.
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So those were the first two waves to go into captivity by the Babylonians because of their disobedience. That was the Northern Kingdom - in the South - and the Northern Kingdom was called Israel -the Southern Kingdom, the other two tribes were called Judah. That was the Southern Kingdom. They were the last two tribes that the Babylonians took into captivity. The Southern Kingdom was doing pretty good. There sitting up looking at the Northern Kingdom and basically saying, you know, we're following God. We're doing what God told us to do. So we haven't been taken into captivity. But eventually they stopped doing what God told them to do and they were taken into captivity also. So three different times the Jewish people were taken into captivity by the Babylonians. But eventually the Babylonians were defeated by the Persians. And this is where we have Esther. She's in Persia.
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Eventually the Persians allow the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem. And again, it happened in three different waves. Zerubbabel led the first wave to rebuild the altars in Jerusalem. That was about 536 years before Christ. The second group of Jews returned around 458 years before Christ. They were led by Ezra, a scribe of God's law. And then the third group to return were led by Nehemiah about 444 years before the time of Christ. The three books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther, those three books tell the history of God's people during the rule of the Persian empire. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, the Persian empire. Ezra and Nehemiah tell of the captives who returned to Judah. They returned to Judah. But the book of Esther tells us what happened to God's people who decided to stay in Persia. So back to Esther, where we see those Jews who were in the Persian empire were about to be destroyed, including Esther. Mordecai said your father's house.
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Now how they would have found out Esther was a Jew, we are not sure, but Mordecai was sure they would find out. Verse 15. "Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer," She's giving her reply. She says, go gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, this was the capital of all of the provinces where King Ahasuerus lived, this was the capital, Shushan. And she says, gather all the Jews and fast you for me and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. And I also, me too, and maidens will fast likewise and so will I go. And then I'll go in unto the King. And she reminds Mordecai again "which is not according
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to the law."
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But then she says, "If I perish, I perish. If I die, I die, but I'm going to do this." So here we see the results of how Mordecai raised Esther. Proverbs 22:6 says, train up a child in the way he should go, in the way she should go, and when she is old, she will not depart from it. Esther knew what to do. She knew this was an emergency and she pulled out all the stops. She went on a serious, dry fast, no food, no water. This is the maximum that a person should go, so they say without food and water, without hurting themselves physically, unless it is a supernatural fast. Jesus was on a supernatural fast when he fasted 40 days without food, he had water, Luke 4:2. "Being 40 days tempted of the devil and in those days he did eat nothing.
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And when they were ended, he afterward hungered." Moses fasted 40 days without food and water but he was in the mountains. That was still truly a supernatural fast, Exodus 34:28. "And he was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights. He did neither eat bread nor drink water and he wrote upon the tables, the words of the covenant" the ten commandments." Again, do not try fasting beyond three days without food and water unless it is a supernatural fast. So I can tell you a little funny story here and Apostle Charles doesn't know I'm going to do this, but I'm going to tell on him. He went on a five day fast. It really takes him to tell this. So I don't know if I'll tell the whole story or not. I think it was no food, no water. After the fast he was struck temporarily blind.
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It was temporary, but the bad part about it was he had gone to one of his favorite places to eat. And it was late at night. And this was back at the time when there were no cell phones. So the place closed. So he's sitting there eating his favorite ribs. I think it was ribs. The place had closed and he's sitting in the car. He came off this fast and he's eating his ribs. And after he's done eating, suddenly he is blinded. Okay. That's the results of a five-day fast, no food, no water. It affects your body when you go beyond that, beyond those three days, unless it is a supernatural fast. He can share you the details. But eventually his sight returned to him because there was no way we would have been able to find him. Because like I said, there were no cell phones then.
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So just thank God, it was only a temporary blindness. His vision was restored. But be wise when you fast, that's all I have to say. If you're under a doctor's orders, please, do what your doctor tells you to do until you truly have been released by God to do otherwise and your doctor. So Esther said, this is what Esther says, she said fast from me. Yeah, I know y'all been out there fasting, but now you need to fast for me. They were already fasting in their mourning. But Esther said now, fast for me, you have been carrying this baton this far. They carried the baton. They were fasting. It wasn't just Esther. It was Mordecai. Mordecai was fasting. The people were fasting. They were carrying the baton. But now it was time for Esther to take that Baton and run the final leg and bring the baton across the finish line to victory.
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So "fast for me" because this is truly a matter of life and death. Verse 17. "So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him." Here, we end this chapter with humility. We have the humble servant, Mordecai, obeying his queen. At this point, she is not his foster daughter. She is not his adopted daughter. She is his queen. Children must learn they have to distinguish between their father, the dad, and the man of God; their mother as mom, and the woman of God. Likewise, parents must learn to reverence their children when they are in the role of man or woman of God. I think Mordecai and Esther are perfect examples of two people who did this well. They respected and loved each other, but most of all, they loved God and they loved their people. So it was not difficult to be humble and respect one another. Amen.
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So that is the end of chapter 4. It really isn't a very long chapter cause we now are starting to get into the more interesting parts of this book. So, amen, I hope that you have been blessed by the breakdown and the history because I learned a lot and it helped me to kind of bring together those books of Ezra and Nehemiah and we talk about Zerubbabel. And it helped me to better understand this study, what the book of Esther was saying and the fact that there were so many Jewish people who were born in Persia. They were brought to that part of the world in captivity and so they were raised there. That was their home, many of them. And many of them did not want to go back to Jerusalem, but some of them decided that they would stay.
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You know, sometimes you know this, somebody's got to stay. We look at some churches sometimes and I think about one church in particular, Apostle Charles told me about.
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Even though that church, the pastor kind of went a little wayward, shall we say, wasn't really living the life, but there was still some of those old mothers and there were saints who stayed there. They stayed at that church. They didn't leave, even though they knew the pastor wasn't doing right. And you know, somebody does have to stay even, even when the pastor might be doing wrong, if God is telling you to stay. Sometimes God is telling us to move on, but the people stayed and they were delivered as we will learn later. So just thank God.
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For such a time as this. Today's presentation should have us all reminding
ourselves that we were born for such a time as this. This is Stephanie Wright. Thank you for listening today. And please join us for our next episode. Episode 5, entitled "One Thing."
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