Esther

Okay. Let's turn back to s to chapter 8 and, and, let's let's pray as we begin together. Oh, mighty god, we thank you that we can come together this morning as your people. Confident that your word is everything that we need for life and for godliness and that the Holy Spirit has promised to take this word as it is preached and to make your children more like you. We thank you for this amazing moment where we can hear you speaking as your word is read and taught.

And we just pray that you would give us all hearts that are ready to listen, that you would help us to rejoice as the Jews did here as we reflect on our salvation again and help us above all to see and love the lord Jesus more. And in his name, we pray, amen. But there's a catch That's something you never want to hear after you've just been made a good offer, is it? But there's a I was watching a video last week all about hidden catches. And, these are all legitimate, apparently.

There's there is a village in Switzerland called Albanon, which pays people to live there. So they will give you nearly 27000 dollars per adult, and nearly 11000 dollars per child to just move to albany and live there. And look at it. I mean, it's hardly slumming it. Is this gonna work?

There we go. Let's click on look, I mean, it's a beautiful mountain towns surrounded by countryside, pine trees there, stretching up to the sky. It's it's pretty nice, isn't it? Another picture there, look, in the winter, you can go skiing, you know, it's pretty nice, isn't it? It's hardly it's hardly a bit of, a sort of decrepit place to live.

It's lovely. Nice place, but there's a catch. You must be younger than 45, and you must be willing to commit to Alberton for a minimum of 10 years. So if you want a retirement home there, forget it, If you want a holiday home just for a couple of weeks a year, forget it. You've got to commit to that village for a minimum of 10 years if you want the cash.

Now if that doesn't grab you and you can handle harsh winters why not move to Alaska? Apparently, the state of Alaska will give you 1100 dollars a year just to live there. Which again sounds pretty suspicious, doesn't it? Anywhere that's willing to pay you to live there is a sort of indication that something might be suspect about the place, Well, there is a catch. In order to cash in on this particular deal, you must live there for the entire calendar year including the minus 45 degree winters and the prospect of never seeing the sun again for the rest of your life.

I mean, this is a picture This is a picture I drew out from Alaska. Now British winters are are not famous for being nice, but that that that's a lot to put up with. For a thousand dollars a year, isn't it? Yeah? There's a catch in all in all kinds of things.

In another area, I was, had a notification last week telling me could get a free 5 pound Amazon voucher. If I downloaded the app, then if you've heard of this promotion, Steve, which is which is fine. When I it was good good offer, but when I tried to use it and I tried to get my 5 pounds, it didn't work. So I checked the conditions and there's a catch. Only valid on certain items, and it's only valid if you're going to spend more than 20 pounds already So it's not quite the 3, 5 pounds you thought you were getting.

And we know once you've had a few of these in life, we become cynical, don't we? About these kind of offers because we know that somewhere in the small print is bound to be something which makes an irresistible offer not so good after all. Sadly, we we kind of learn that in this world, if an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And you need to check and check and check the small print. Order to find the catch.

It's what we've learned from a very young age, isn't it? Now last week, I think I may have given a false impression because we got to the end of chapter 7, and we ended on this note of celebration. Hammond is dead, Queen Esther is safe in the royal house. It's all good at the end of chapter 7, but there's a catch. Esta might be safe, but remember that law ordering the death of every Jew in every province in the kingdom of Persia, that's still alive.

So Hammond is dead, but his legacy remains. And that happens still today, doesn't it? Long after the wicked are gone from the earth, their deeds remain. And to some degree or another, we all suffer in this generation because of sins committed by past generations. And there is a sense in which every generation after us will suffer because of the sinful decisions that we make.

I was reading about a chap in Holland this week who's trying to legalize these suicide pods then if you've seen this, he's trying to get these legalized so that you can basically put yourself in 1 of these pods when you want to die. And it will release a deadly dose of nitrogen into the atmosphere. And as you breathe it in, you'll be dead in a matter of minutes, and he's really thought about it because on the screen in the pod, you can watch your favorite scenery from wherever in the world, and you can listen to classical music. It's got a kind of in pod entertainment system. And it's just it's just frightening.

And the thing is he wants to make these suicide pods so that they're able to be printed at home through 3 d printers. So as long as you've got a 3 d printer, you'll be able to print this off and and use it. That's his vision for it. Now at the moment, we don't have euthanasia here, but it may be that it's not far off. And where will it take our children?

And their children will have gone, but the legacy remains. And in the same way, Hammond is gone, but his wickedness remains. And if this law is carried out, this book becomes a tragedy What good is it gonna be? If Esther is safe and Mordickeye maybe is safe, but all of god's people in the world are wiped out. What good will that be?

So all those candles that we were lighting and those celebratory banners we were putting up at the end of chapter 7 need to come down. Because there's some terrifying small print staring us in the face as we come to these chapters. And that's why when you open up chapter 8, Esther isn't celebrating. She's weeping. She knows just that?

She's not celebrating She's weeping. And the first point I wanted to see this morning, which is on the screen, is this Estes petition. Have a look at, chapter 8 and verse 3. Esther again pleaded with the king. Falling at his feet and weeping, she begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haiman the AGergeite, which he had devised against the Jews.

And then verse 6, what did she say? How can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family? Now last week, you remember Ester was very, very careful in the king's presence. Her plan was strategic.

It was thought through. It was wily. It's crafty. It was clever. She'd request a banquet.

Then she'd request another banquet, then she would make her request known and then victory. Very, very careful, but at this point, she's on her face weeping. And even though she is safe, and she has just been given all of Hammond's estate and all of Hammond's wealth. Her heart is clearly still with her people. If I was her, I reckon at this point I'd be more focused on enjoying my extra wealth than worrying about other people, which is easy to do, isn't it?

To let our levels of comfort dead in us to the glaring need of people all around. I can see it in my own heart. Letting the things that I like and the things that I have and the things that I want just make me cold. To the need of the condemned people in our day that are all around us. Esther didn't let that happen even though she just inherited all of Hammond's estate.

At this point, she is a hundred percent clear where her heart longs. How can I bear to see this happen to my people and to my family There is no confusing it now? Esther is a Jew. And for the first time, she reveals the link between herself and Mordaki and therefore basically says to the king, by the way, that mordecai, you're related to him through marriage. So she's very clear now on who she is.

And so in verse 7 and 8, you can see what she says, what he says rather. King xerxes applied to Queen Esther and to mordecai the Jew because Hammond attacked the Jews, I have given his to Ester, and they have impaled him on the poll he set up. Now write another decree in the king's name on behalf of Jews as it seems best to you and seal it with the king's signet ring for no document written in the king's name and sealed with his ring can be revoked. And before we think about the details of the law, which we'll do in just a moment, Zurich sees here is once again showing what a total muppet he is. Okay?

He is already in this book been manipulated once into creating a law, which he didn't check, and which he didn't investigate, and which could have killed his own wife. He signed that law, and now he's signing another law, which he hasn't really thought about properly, and he hasn't investigated it's amazing. In this entire book, xerxes never makes a decision on his own. He always needs to tell people what to do, but needs people to tell him what to do. He's like a glove in people's hand.

He's a puppet on their string. Doesn't know what he's really doing. And the problem is when you don't think too much about your laws, you run into difficulties. And so it is with this 1, because he was so hasty in signing off the first and publishing it across the empire, he's now run into some problems. He can't take back the original law.

The laws of the medes and the Persians can never be repealed. They can never be undone. And so what he's gotta do is create a new law, giving the Jews the right to defend themselves and to take up arms when the day of their destruction comes. That's the only way he can do it. And so verse 11 of chapter 8, the king's edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves to destroy, kill, and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children and to plunder the property of their enemies.

And again, before we think about that law because I I do think there are some difficulties with it. It's just it's just worth thinking about how your average due would have felt here. This would have been pretty scary for them. Most of them wouldn't be trained for military action. So to find out that you are going to be the means of your own survival wouldn't be that exciting, I don't think.

And on top of that, you've got 9 months to wait until it happens. I mean, if you received a law like that, you'd rather say, right? Let's get it over and done with. It's gonna be horrible. It's gonna be brutal.

Let's just let's just do it tomorrow. Let's get it done with. But to have this looming over your head for 9 months. That is a long time to be preparing. It's a long time to be thinking about what's gonna happen to you.

But this is it. And so in verse 14, the law is out, and they get the best horses for the job. Verse 14, the couriers riding the royal horses went out spurred on by the king's command and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. And so before we move on to what happened after that law was given, I just want us to finish on Esther for this series. I want us to kind of wrap up the time that we've spent looking at character of Esther because this, in many ways, is her last big act, this last petition before the king.

And I want us to see 1 last time how much she points us to the lord Jesus Christ. Esther and Mordecai are not perfect. Otherwise, there'd be no need for Jesus, but they are like him, and they point us to him in so many ways. And the way that Esther steps up again to intercede for her people is 1 of those ways. It's a beautiful contrast, isn't it?

In chapter 7, Hammond is on his knees begging for his own life. In chapter 8, Esther is on her knees begging for the life of her people. Now again, Zurich's is nothing like God. And Jesus certainly didn't have to twist the father's arm to get him to come and save us. But the way she stands here as the representative of her people going in their place to save them from death is very much like the lord Jesus.

For the Jews, there was just no chance that they could save themselves They couldn't get a petition together. They couldn't organize a hundred thousand people protesting through parliament square as we had yesterday or the day before, I think. They couldn't do anything like that. From the ground up, nothing would change. They needed a top down salvation.

If it was gonna happen, it needed to come from above, and praise the lord the same is true for us. The Bible says that while we were yet sinners, while we were hopeless, while we were under the condemnation of a law, the law of God, Christ came down from the courtroom of heaven, and he stepped in now place. The Bible says that after his resurrection and his return to heaven, Jesus didn't just take a break from ministry, didn't just let out a sigh of relief and forget about it. It says that he always lives to intercede for us. Jesus lives forever to intercede for us in the courtroom of heaven.

What does it mean? It means right now, our savior is in heaven interceding for us right now. He's praying for us. He's seeking our blessing. He's bringing our own requests to the father.

He's defending us against the accusations of Satan. He's holding us. He's praying for us. He's preparing to bring us home. Right now, he's there in the courts of heaven interceding for us.

And in that way, Esther, points us to our savior. She went to the courtroom to intercede for her people. And who could have imagined it This young exiled girl lost in a massive ocean of empire could become the savior of her people and who could have imagined that a baby born in Bethlehem as an exile under a wick king herod would step into the breach as our representative to save us. Salvation is always top down from courtroom to people, from him to us, and it's all of grace. And in that way, Esther points us to Jesus.

But she's not the only 1. Mordekai takes us there as well. And that's the second point I want us to think through. We've seen Esther's petition Now we're gonna look at Mordecai's promotion. Have a look at chapter 8 again.

If you want to, get your bibles open, chapter 8 and verse 2. The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Hammond, and he presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Hammond's estate. She gave it over to him. Now in 1 of Andy's recent evening sermons, he was taking us through the of Haggai, if you remember that, and, in that sermon, he was helping us to understand the very last words where god says that a man called Zerubbabel will be like his signet ring.

Do you remember that if you were there? Zerubble will be like his signet ring, and he helped us to see that to where the signet ring is to be in a position of authorities, to have power. Now in all day, we don't talk about wearing signet rings, but we do have phrases that are similar. So you might jokingly say of a marriage or a relationship, ah, yes, I visited that house, and in that home, she wears the trousers. She wears the trousers.

We know what it means. It means she runs the place. Yeah. She wears the trousers. Now we don't talk about wearing signet rings, but we do talk about wearing the trousers.

And in old testament language, to wear the trousers was to wear the ring, it was to have the authority to be in charge of the house. But that's mordecai. He has gone from being an official outside the king's gate to being the prime minister and commander in chief of Persia. It's quite a promotion. And as you can see in chapters 8 to 10, he just goes from 1 degree of glory and strength to the next.

So have a look at chapter 9 verse 4. Let's trace his meteoric rise to power. Chapter 9 verse 4. Mordicae was prominent in the palace. His reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful.

Chapter 10 verse 3. Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews because he worked for the good of his people, and he spoke up for all the welfare of the Jews. You see his rise, his meteoric rise to power, he's risen up forgotten at 1 time, but now lord of the empire, second only to xerxes. And although it is an amazing story, just to hear that might be ringing some bells in your mind because it it is in many ways a unique story, but it's actually not original. So if you remember the story of Joseph, it's quite interesting the parallels to see here.

All the way back in Genesis 40, he was passed over for a time. Do you remember that? He was in prison with a baker and a cup bearer. He interpreted dreams for them. They both got out, and then the cup Berer was the 1 who survived, but he totally forgot Joseph.

He didn't say anything to pharaoh about the man who had interpreted his dreams. He just got on with his life and forgot all about Joseph, but god never forgot him. And soon enough, that same Joseph became the most powerful man on earth apart from the pharaoh. Mordecai the Jew, ignored outside the king's gate, forgotten for his work becomes Mordicai lord of Persia. Dressed in royal robes, preeminent among his people working for their good.

And even that story is just a fill in until the gospel. When the lord Jesus Christ, our savior was nailed to a cross, the Bible says that every single sheep was scattered. For a while, he was forgotten. They were scattered. They left him alone.

He was forgotten. Outside the king's gate. Outside the gates of Jerusalem, he was forgotten. But praise the lord he was raised. And now we can find him in chapter 10 verse 3.

Isn't this Jesus? Preeminent among his people, held in high esteem, working for the good of all of his people or as we might say in New Testament language, have a look on the screen. God has exalted him to the highest place. And has given him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is the lord, to the glory of God, the father. If we can't see Jesus in Esther, we may as well close the old testament and stop looking.

The promoted king of glory with all authority on heaven and earth, that's Mordecai, representing us before the father and working for our salvation. That's Esther. Jesus Christ is the hero of this book. He is the star of this show. It's all about him.

And so how should we respond as god's people this morning thousands of years later? Well, there's a lot about partying and celebrating and festivals and joy, and that should be our response. It should be an everlasting huge salvation party. The first point was as petition. The second point was Mordecai's promotion.

Thirdly, the people's party, the people's party. Let's see if we can click that on. There we go. Oh, it's gone. There it is, the people's party.

Nice sketches today so this is the people's party. And as you can see, there's a whole load of this in these last chapters. And 1 commentator says he sort of summarizes whole bit by saying, the tables are turned, and then the tables are laid. The tables are turned, and then the tables are laid. And I just love that.

It's borrowing from Psalm 23 language as well. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, the tables are turned, and the tables are laid. That's what happens here. It starts the celebration in chapter 8, even before the battle is won. Even before any of them have picked up sword and shield, they're they're they're rejoicing.

The whole place is ringing with joy. And as it's the World Cup, I thought I'd give an illustration. It's like the 19 66 World Cup. The fans are running on the pitch, they think it's all over even before the whistle is gone. Even though the final whistle hasn't been gone, in 1 sense, the victory isn't secure, the fans are on the pitch, they think it's all over.

That's what's happening here. Before the battle is done, before the whistle is blown, they are rejoicing and the feasting already begins. In chapter 4, there were 4 words used when Hammond's plan went out. Mornings, fasting, weeping, wailing. There are 4 new words here.

Happiness, joy, gladness, honor. Mornings, fasting, weeping, wailing, happiness, joy, gladness, honor. And not just for the Jews, for the city of Susa. It's quite interesting, isn't it? Have a look at chapter 8 in verse 15.

When Mord acquired Kai left the king's presence, he was wear wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold in a purple robe of fine linen, and the city of Susa held a joyous celebration. So again, it's quite interesting, isn't it? Because what that shows us is that Hammond's hatred for the Jews was not shared by everybody. Many people rejoiced when they learnt that god's family was safe. And so all of this is really to say that when we close this book, gladness and joy, is meant to be filling our hearts.

We are supposed to be glad, like the people of god were, as they celebrate their salvation. But to many ears, and you may have thought this is we were reading through. To many ears, this kind of joy might sound very strange or even contradictory. There is a lot of killing in these chapters, a lot of killing. Thousands and thousands of people die at the hands of the Jews.

And so the question is why are we celebrating this or even a more sharp question, why is it not okay for Hammond to kill thousands of people but it is okay for the Jews to kill a thousand thousands of people. What difference does it make? What's going on here? Why is this so much joy at such a barbaric scene? Well, let's not forget the people the Jews kill are those who would have killed them?

This is an act of self defense. Have a look at chapter 8 verse 11, is really stressed in in this section. The king's edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves to destroy, kill, and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them. Chapter 9 verse 1, Stephen clearer. On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of ADar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out.

On this day, the enemies of the Jews who hoped to overpower them but now the tables were turned, and the Jews got the upper hand over who, those who hated them. The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Zurich to attack who, those determined to destroy them. This wasn't just random killing. It wasn't like the film, the purge, if you've seen that film. I wouldn't recommend that to anybody, really, for a number of reasons.

But the basic idea of the film is that once a year, on 1 particular day, so very much like this, the every single authority in the land stands down, FBI police fire brigade, ambulance, they stand down, and every person on 1 day is licensed to do whatever they want with no consequences. And so the day before, there's horrible scenes of people in their gardens sharpening machetes so that they can legally kill their irritating boss the next day and face no consequences for it. There's people getting ready, prepare loading up their guns so they can go and destroy all groups of people who've annoyed them at school that particular year. And face no consequences. That is that is not the idea here.

That is not the point of this law. This wasn't just an opportunity on 1 day of the year for a Jew to kill his annoying Persian boss down the road. They weren't to seize on it like that. And what really confirms that is what happened after the battle. The law had said very clearly that god's people could take the plunder.

They were allowed to do that. They could take the wealth and the land of their enemies but they didn't touch it. 3 times we're told they didn't touch it. Now why not? Because this wasn't for their own good.

It wasn't for their own gain. The motive wasn't, yeah, let's butcher them so we get wealthy. So they're more vineyard. More animals, more crops. This has killed a particularly rich ones so that we can have all the plunder.

There is nothing like that here. This is not just random slaughter for the people they didn't get on with. This is a justice against the enemies of god. And in the end, that is the deepest reason for this In Genesis 12, god had promised to Abraham, I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you, I will curse Haiman, and thousands of his cronies hated the Jews. They hated their god And when they got together to kill them, it was an expression of their hatred for god and his people.

And for that hatred, they would be cursed. So we've gotta get this. This is not the people's war. This is a judgment on those who have cursed the name of yahweh. And so does that mean that for Christians today, we can go on these kind of crusades around the world, killing people who curse our god.

There's plenty of those around, isn't there? By no means. The Bible is very clear that judgment belongs to the lord. 1 day, Jesus Christ will come again and he will decide the who, the what, the when and the where of judgment. As his job, judgment belongs to the lord, And so in the meantime, we are told to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us.

We are told to put down weapons of war because we fight against sin and evil. We don't fight against flesh and blood. We want god's enemies to disappear as they are transformed into his friends. That's what we want as we wait for the final judgment of Jesus. And the truth is if we still find all of this joy a bit weird, it might just be down to our own cultural baggage.

Christopher Ash is a a Bible commentator and, speaker at all kinds of different conferences, has done some brilliant work on Esther, and he talks about this and to sort of paraphrase him, he says it's very difficult for us to understand the emotion here, because as we drink our caramel lattes in safety, we really believe that we are at the highest moral point of the universe and have a moral advantage over everyone who's ever lived and everyone who lives in other cultures. But if you think about Christians all over the world today who are under threat, people who really, this is really have this, enemies gathering together in towns in order to burn their houses and their children and their churches It is good news when they disappear. It's good news when they disappear. This is the pattern all over scripture. When god's enemies defeated and his family are safe, there is joy.

When they came out of the Red Sea, came through the Red Sea out of Egypt, and pharaoh's enemies were destroyed. What did they do? They sang. They sang. When the lord used Deborah to save his people, what did she do?

She sang. And when Christ stands in victory on the last day, the song will go up, hallelujah, for our lord god almighty reigns, let us rejoice and be glad his enemies are no more. The tables are turned, and then the tables are laid. Tables turned, tables laid. That's the pattern.

And in chapter 9 verse 20 to 22, you can see how this is going to be an everlasting celebration. Have a look at chapter 9 verse 20. Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes near and far that they should celebrate annually the fourteenth and the fifteenth days of the month of ADar as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies And as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration, He wrote to them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presence of food to 1 another and gifts to the poor. And then verse 26, Therefore, these days were called purim from the word pure because of everything written in this letter and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them, the Jews took it on themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who would join them should without fail observe these 2 days every year in the way prescribed and at the time appointed. These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family and in every province and in every city.

And these days of purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants. And still today, in Jewish communities all over the world, they celebrate this festival of Purim in March. Still today, they do it for this very reason. And yet we know this celebration cannot just belong to the Jews. The Bible tells us very clearly that god never intended just to have 1 ethnic group belonging to him.

From his first promise to Abraham to the last song of Revelation, the people of God are those from any and every nation and gentile who confess Jesus Christ to be lord. And so when you take the whole Bible together, you realize that to miss Jesus out of your purine celebrations is to miss the entire point of the whole festival. It wasn't just created to put another date in the calendar for 1 ethnic group. It's here in our bibles to draw us to cry and to put everlasting gladness in our own hearts. And so I think the challenge of this is If we've lost that joy and gladness and lightness and honor in our salvation, then we need to repent.

Because Purim is not just suggested. It's commanded. Joy is commanded of the people here in bible. And so to all of us who are Christians, I think we need to pray like David did, restore to me the joy of your salvation. He doesn't say restore to me the knowledge of your salvation.

He knows that. He doesn't say restore to me the ABCs. The inform the intellectual side of your salvation. He knows that. He says, restore to me the joy of your salvation.

Restore the joy to me. That's why Esther is in our Bibles. It is to put everlasting joy into the heart of god's people. And if you're not a Christian, or you're still thinking about whether to be a follower of Jesus, now is the time to turn to him. Now is the time.

It's quite interesting. As part of their celebrations, the Jews read the book of Esther aloud every year. And as they read it, every time the name of Hammond is mentioned, all the kids have these Maraca type things. And every time they hear the name Hammond, they whip these Maraca us round in order to block his name out so that when the book's being read, it's so you can't hear Hammond's name. And actually tradition has it that they used to inscribe Hammond's name on 2 pebbles.

And whenever the kids would hear the name of Hammond, they would smash the pebbles together, all the way throughout the story until at the end, you couldn't make out the inscription because they wanted to acknowledge the fact that his name was gone. His name would be wiped out. They wanted him erased from the festival every year. And that is exactly what happened. Not only did all of god's enemies get turned over, but Hammond's 10 sons, the sons he boasted about so proudly were all put to death, and that means there was no 1 to carry on his name, his name, perished forever as of this point.

As the proverb says, the memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot. He is gone, but his name is still rotting to this day. And as we close, that is a word to all who oppose the risen Jesus. In this life for a time, we may be able to live in palaces eating at banquets, drinking fine wine, but if we won't bow the knee to the savior of the world and received his gift of eternal life, we will perish forever in hell, and our names will be rotting in outer darkness all eternity. If you haven't trusted in the lord Jesus Christ this morning, you can do that today.

And what is just so wonderful, and I need to finish on this, but it's so good, is that even in this story, people did turn it was too late. Did you notice that chapter 8 verse 17? 1 last verse to look at. Chapter 8 verse 17. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.

It's such it is such an amazing turn of events. In chapter 4, the people are mourning and the city is bewildered. In chapter or 8, the people are rejoicing and the city is converting. Now you might argue that they were just afraid of dying. Maybe they realized that the end was near, and they should give up trying to kick against god and get on side before they get wiped out.

That would be a cynical way of looking at it. I think these are genuine people who have realized that god's people have a true and living god who saves and prospers them, and they wanted to get on board with him. Well, maybe it's time for you to do that today. Several weeks ago at the prayer meeting and right now, we're going to sing a song called The Church Is 1 Foundation. And, this this this verse is often left out, the third verse, But today, it's going in, because it sums up the story of Esther in a very short beautiful way better than I ever could, and it's just a wonderful verse for us to sing.

It goes like this. The church shall never perish her dear lord to defend, to guide sustain and cherish is with her to the end, though there be those that hate her and false sons in her pale. Against the foe or the traitor, she ever shall prevail. That's the story of as pray. Father, we rejoice and we thank you for the past few weeks and for all that we have been able to see.

We thank you that you are the sovereign god who works in amazing and sometimes confusing, sometimes mysterious ways. To save your people from their enemies. We thank you lord that 1 day as we stand at the victorious throne of Jesus Christ, and all those who have hated you and your people are no more, a great song will go up, and we will rejoice, hallelujah, for our lord, god, almighty reigns, let us rejoice and be glad. And yet even now as we wait, put that gladness anew into our hearts as we reflect on your grounds' great salvation. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.