Esther 2026

Get your Bibles open to Esther chapter eight and if you haven't heard any of the previous sermons on Esther, you can go to our website and find them.

Seven brilliant sermons have gone before this. Now, we're in chapter eight. So, let's let's hear god's word. That same day King's Lerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman the ending of the Jews and Mordecai came into the presence of the King for Esther had told how he was related to her. The King took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman and presented it to Mordecai and Esther appointed him over Haman's estate.

Esther again pleaded with the king falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite which he had devised against the Jews. Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him. If it pleases the king she said and if he regards me with favour and thinks it the right thing to do and if he is pleased with me let an order be written overruling the dispatches of Haman son of Hamadepher the Abagite devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king's provinces. Well how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people?

How can I bear to see the destruction of my family? King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew because Haman attacked the Jews I have given his estate to Esther and they have impaled him on the pole he set up. Now write another decree in the King's name on behalf of the Jews as 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. At once the royal secretaries were summoned on the twenty third day of the third month, the month of Saban, they wrote out all Mordecai's orders to the Jews and to the satraps governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Kush. These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language.

Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes sealed the dispatches with the king's signet ring and sent them by mounted couriers who rode fast horses especially bred for the king. 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 of all province who might attack them and their women and children and to plunder their property and the property of their enemies. The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. The couriers riding the royal horses went out spurred on by the King's command and the edict was issued in the city of Susa.

When Mordecai left the King's presence he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen and the city of Susa held a joyous celebration for the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy gladness and honor in every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came there was joy and gladness among the Jews with feasting and celebrating and many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them. Thank you Dean amazing words and an amazing story really isn't it we love going through this book with Esther so please keep Esther chapter eight open in front of you. We'll refer to it as we go. I want to read these words to you from Romans 15 that I've been struck by recently. Paul says this and it applies to what we've just read.

For everything that was written in the past, including the book of Esther, was written to teach us so that through the endurance taught in the scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your written word. We thank you that you've revealed yourself to us. We thank you that you are the sovereign God who is in control.

Thank you for the offer of the gospel of your son. We rejoice in that this evening and we thank you that even though our sins were many, your mercy is more. Your mercy is everything and we want to rejoice in that tonight and as we look at these words, we want to ask for your help. Lord, Give us your spirit. May your spirit teach us tonight through the scriptures.

May your spirit encourage our hearts. May we find hope in these words. We pray in Jesus name, Amen. Well I wonder if you know who said these words. You ready?

Now this is not the end. It's not even the beginning of the end, but it is perhaps the end of the beginning. I heard some murmurs, anyone? Chair Chair chill, well done. Who was that?

Well done, very good. I've only got one, I thought I might do a couple but there you go. This is not the end, It's not even the beginning of the end, but it is perhaps the end of the beginning. Those words mark the turning point in the Second World War. You know it?

After three relentless years of hardship and defeat, finally church bells rang in England. We've had Dunkirk, we've had the Blitz, but finally Britain had won a decisive victory and that was the Battle of El Alamein. But Britain had not yet won the war. Masterful words from Churchill there to give the battered British public hope. Hope.

For the first time since the start of the war there was hope. Written breathed a sigh of relief. But this is not the end. The threat of the enemy very much remains. The war was far from over.

And as we turn the page and come to the next chapter of this book of Esther, a battle has just been won. Haman, if you've not been with us Haman, the wicked enemy of God has been killed. There was victory over the villain and Queen Esther had made a bold move to show the king what was really happening and that move proved to an extent to be successful. Poetic justice had been served and Haman was hung on a very pole he'd set up to kill Mordecai. Battle had been won but this is not the end.

D day was coming. Although Haman was dead, his edict lived on. This edict we read about in chapter three and it was an edict to exterminate the Jews, to wipe out the Jewish people. It's quite shocking, especially if you're first here. There was an edict written in the Persian Empire to eradicate the Jewish people And it still stood because it was sealed with the king's signet ring.

It was sent to the entire known world at the time. So according to law it was irreversible. It really, really was gonna happen. The Jews had nine months to live. That would be one.

It's not even the beginning of the end. Remember, the context here is the Jews are in exile. They're living under a pagan empire and we've seen in this book there's no mention of a temple. There's no mention of a land which is big for these people. There's no mention of prophet and there's no mention of God.

And now the people of this seemingly absent God are due to be destroyed. In the past this very God said it'd make these people a great nation. He said it'd be for them. He would be for them. He wouldn't forsake them.

How? When there's this irrevocable death sentence over his very people. So the question this raises is, whose word will really stand? Whose word will stand? Will it be God's word who promised the Jews would live?

Or would it be Xerxes' words? He would in a sense promise the Jews would die. And what we're going to do is break this chapter up into four parts and explain the story and hopefully try to apply it throughout. Firstly we have a big reveal, a big reveal verses one and two. Our passage begins that same day.

It had been a long day for the king and it actually started the day before when you may remember in chapter six we had that pivotal verse in the whole book of Esther where the king had sleep taken from him, that's what some translations say it, as if he had a sleepless night and during that sleepless night he's reminded of this man Mordecai, this man who had saved his life by exposing an assassination plot to me to the king. And during the sleepless night the king remembers that he hasn't got round to thanking this guy yet. He hasn't got round to thanking Mordecai yet. So he goes about thanking him. That very morning however Haman, the king's prime minister, comes to the king planning to kill Mordecai.

That very morning, timing is an amazing theme in Esther. That very morning Haman wants to kill Mordecai for not giving him the honour that Haman thought he preserved. But before Haman's had a chance to even open his mouth, he's sent away by the king with a task to honor Mordecai for saving the king's life. Perfect timing. What irony.

Haman is forced to personally lead his enemy Mordecai through the capital city Susa and proclaim his honor And then he goes home as a cry to his wife and then he's rushed out to Queen Esther's next banquet. And it's there at the next banquet that Esther is asked what she wants. So he's asked by the king what what does she want? And it's this time that she names the threat directly. That there's a plot to destroy her up until that point.

The king didn't know she was Jewish and there is a plot, there's an edict against the king's very queen and the queen's people and the whole being plotted by his own right hand man Haman. You sealed this edict with the king's very own signet ring. King is enraged, storms out to the garden, Haman panicking falls at Esther's feet and then the king misinterprets that, thought it was an assault on the queen, Haman is then hanged. Amazing. Amazing turn of events And when, it's widely recorded that in ancient Persia when a condemned criminal was put to death, their property belonged to the crown.

So in killing Haman all of his property then belonged to the king. Haman was a very wealthy man. Some historians think he was one of the most wealthiest men in the whole of history. So after a day of twists and turns the king comes to make up to his wife for the pain that has caused her and here we see that he gives her Haman's estate, Haman's house. The vast property that Haman had amassed for himself.

And then we find Mordecai came into the presence of the king. But Esther had told how he was related to her. Esther had recently disclosed the king, as I said, her true ethnicity, which she'd been hiding for five years. And now she discloses to the king Mordecai's relation to her. That she was his cousin.

That he was her adopted father-in-law. The king's head must have been exploding like how many how many bombshells are gonna drop on me? And then he looks at Mordecai, aren't you the very man who saved my life? Aren't you the very man who I'm meant to be recognising again? Just recognising him actually.

And all this time he's been my father-in-law. You didn't mention him. At times in this book of Esther it's not clear if the behaviour is questionable or commendable, know think back to Esther and the king's bed before she's queen. Mordecai not recognising Haman which we can talk about. We don't get the moral judgement in the narrative, sometimes that's quite confusing for us as we read it, but the reactions to the actions is often a commentary.

So here the king's reaction makes it seem that it might not have been such a bad big deal to conceal their identity for so long. Because what does the king do? He promotes Mordecai into Haman's position. The king took off his signet ring, which he proclaimed from Haman verse two, and presented it to Mordecai. Haman is worth thinking about isn't it?

When have we failed to bear witness for our faith because of the fear of what other people think? Only to discover that their responses has been far from what we might think. If Esther's explanation of who Mordecai was went beyond the kind of mere basic relational explanation of okay yeah he's my cousin, yeah he's sort my father in law's, the complicated. And then presumably Esther's gonna say well Haman was gonna kill him, know? Xerxes must have known that Mordecai was Haman's particular target.

Again, how can the king deal with all this news? The king's very prime minister was planning to kill his father-in-law. So what better reward for him than the King's own signet ring. This is quite remarkable. We're seeing this as I say timing is impeccable throughout Esther.

The king isn't mad about this secret, but instead he's happy to appoint a foreigner as his prime minister. Chapter six Mordecai had been, had had his parade for saving the king's lives, but now here in chapter eight Mordecai is being promoted. And that promotion brings with it power. Power. This signet ring that the king gives.

Despite all the possibilities that might have taken place, Esther and Mordecai were now secure. Anesta appointed Mordecai over her estate. So the Persian palace has within it a Jewish queen and a Jewish prime minister. When a few weeks ago Andy Bernham accepted the king's invitation to form a government, He began his opening speech by saying politics shouldn't be about point scoring, it should be about problem solving. And this new Prime Minister has a big problem to solve.

Secondly, a big problem versus three to six. Esther was in the strongest position she could possibly be. Just think about it, it's hard to imagine really what more she could achieve right? How much higher can she climb at the corporate ladder and what more life goals could she have fulfilled? She's queen of the world.

Plus she's in the ultimate secure place now with all of this wealth more than she knows what to do with and her father-in-law is the prime minister. Amazing, amazing position. She could have been chill. But while her position is strong, it is a difficult one. She's already stuck her neck out to Anastasia King.

We saw that in, where was it, chapter seven. And Esther she's already asked the king to eradicate this edict. And I want to remind us that this is significant because every time she comes to the king uninvited was a life threatening situation for her. In fact, again, why would that be? Well it comes back to pride.

It's related to pride because the king could never be put in a position that he wasn't prepared for. So that's why you never had these unprovoked questions to the king because the king had to be seen as the one who knew all things, right? So Esther approaching him uninvited is a threat. That's why there was this execution if the golden setter wasn't extended they'd be executed. And that's also why usually these kind of requests were via intermediaries so that the king could on the one hand never be seen as not knowing the answer to the question, on the other hand could never be seen as saying no.

Plus she's meant to be the queen of Persia. She's meant to be the beautiful representation of the whole of the kingdom. So it's not not just the representation of this tiny minority people group. So if she strongly associated with the Jews too much, the king could have turned around and said, you know what, thanks for everything but you're not the cream in the eagle out here. He could have done that.

Yet for all of that, security if she kept quiet, risk if she didn't, here she is. And she's on her knees, on behalf of her knees. It might have only been hours after Hanan fell at Esther's feet weeping and begging for his own life. And here Esther has lowered herself before the king, weeping and pleading to the people. It's a tense moment as an impossible question is yet again put before this unpredictable sleep deprived reckless king.

Or you can hear in the throne room is Esther's tears dripping on the floor. How's the king gonna react? King holds up his sceptre. Esther isn't killed. She's allowed to speak.

Esther could only have taken this step because she understood God's character. We've noted throughout Esther that God is the sovereign God who purposefully rules over the cosmos for his glory. And a bad application of that is for us to do nothing. Our actions are the means by which God plays out his purposes. And this request from Esther parallels her first.

Notice that, you know, her first was basically if you love me you'll grant me this request and this time her appeal builds. It gradually moves from what's desirable to the king, you know the language of what's appealing to his appetite, his desires, to now focus on what's morally right. She's training this insensitive man of good and evil. And we should consider the way her appeal in this chapter is a progression. It does parallel that previous one and yes it seems loaded with qualifications but now Esther for the first time is pleading with two objective grounds of what is right to men.

Not merely on the basis of the King's desires. And that's significance. In her interceding she pleads for justice. We do well, wouldn't we, to note the concern of Esther's heart. She spoke up bravely and courageously in the cause of God's people.

And that's when she has this very moving line. Did you see it? But how can I bear to see disaster fall on my feet? Verse six. How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?

She simply cannot bear to see disaster and destruction come upon her people. Her burden for the condemned was greater than her love of comfort. She had all that money goodbye. It was greater than her love of material things. So much that she had to intercede their people, whatever the cost.

What an extraordinary example Esther is. Maybe you know this story really well and maybe the kind of bible caricatures of this woman risking everything for the sake of God's people. Well familiar or not, this should really challenge us. It challenges me, especially when I consider what Esther had to lose compared to what I had to lose. Or her anguish over the loss compared to mine.

Her acts of faith compared to what my acts of faith are. Her pleading on behalf of others compared to my pleading on behalf of others. It's challenging. She's so distressed by the destruction coming. How can she bear it?

How can she bear it? So she's moved to action. Don't we need to be more distressed that we're not more distressed? Don't need to don't we need more Esther's who risk all for the sake of the lost? Who intercede and plead with the King for mercy.

Being mentioned this week we had the Thanksgiving service for Les Whites who was a missionary in Zambia for over three decades and it was so lovely hearing the stories of family and friends and it was clear that Les was like Esther in how he put the Zambian people's needs before his own. He loved the Zambian people and also he was a praying man. He interceded on behalf of the lost. Stories and stories and stories of this man praying for this lost people, serving this lost people. Don't we want to be more like this?

We've heard Esther's plea on behalf of her people to face this big problem and next we have the solution. And it's a big deal, so barely a big deal. Versus seven fourteen. Initially, the way that the king responds, then if you pick this up, it's as if he's saying what more do you want? Deep in, as I say, the Persian culture was this idea of the king doing no wrong and that's why his word endured, that's why whatever he said was irrevocable, irreversible.

King Xerxes verse seven replied to Beneath and to Mordecai the Jews, I've given his estate to Esther. And they've impaled them on the pole he set up. I killed your enemy. I've given you all the money you could ever wish for. I don't know what more I could do for you.

And then we get this confusing solution. You, plural, that is a plural you, Esther and Mordecai, may write a new decree and seal it with my signet ring so it can't be revoked. Esther and Mordecai are given the right to make whatever decree they want and it's another ridiculous situation. The bureaucracy is ridiculous. Like at the beginning, and it is like at the beginning of Esther we saw in chapter one, the king, you know, this king of the whole known world, all these 127 provinces, Mingyut Takush, really impressive wealth, really impressive power and yet he can't bring his wife out to come.

Here the king who has all of this pomp and power, he can't even reverse his charge. The theme of kingship is here. It's actually one of the most common words in this passage. The king, powerful king, ruling over the whole world. Who is really in charge?

What sort of king is that? And that detail would have been really important for the original audience, these original people who are in exile. Who is really in charge? Remember that. Who is really in charge?

Well notice the incredible threat of providence and it has just blown me away. This is the second time Esther had approached the king with this request right? Why wouldn't he have just said this then? But the outcome of that request was to hand Mordecai, Mordecai, that would have been bad. Hand Haman, his Prime Minister.

And what happened when he hung Haman? Well Haman's signet ring needed to go somewhere. There was no Prime Minister and here he is Mordecai becoming Prime Minister. And what could the Prime Minister do with this signet ring? They could write an edict.

The only way the death sentence on the Jews could be avoided was by writing an account reader, writing a new one. And that is exactly what happens. Immediately Mordecai has an ingenious solution and the king's scribes come to copy and translate it to the many languages of the empire, now including Hebrew. And if, like me, when you read this you thought these are very familiar words, It's because you have read it before and it is basically the same structure and form as the original decree in chapter three and there's a purposeful mirroring there. This Prime Minister is making a watertight omission for the Jews to defend themselves against anyone who attacked them and took their property.

And notice this is an urgent and important message. This time it's sent out using fast horses, especially bred for the king verse 10. Like those fast motorbikes that if you ever have been passed by one that says urgent blood delivery written on the side, transporting life saving transfusions. This is a life saving message that needs fast horses to deliver it urgently. The new decree is almost exactly the same as the original, but it allows for complete force.

Did you read that? Verse 11, the right to kill, to destroy, kill, annihilate the armed men. And this message is sent out. It's localised. It's proclaimed.

Verse 13. It is issued. That that's the idea of the issue. It's proclaimed this message. Great lengths were taken for this message to be sent.

The couriers were spurred on by the king's command, get the message out there. So all the citizens got the new message, do not attack the Jews. Even though that first edict was still there, even though that death sentence still remained, this meant that the Jews were no longer under it. So there is therefore now no condemnation. The helpless are helped.

And just to summarise what really happens here, the pagan people, the Persians, before any social media or telephone or email or internet, before cars or trains or planes got an urgent life saving message to every nation in their own language across an entire empire. Think about the work that must have gone into doing this. Don't they have beautiful feet those couriers? How much more do we want to take the gospel of Christ to the lost world? There is an urgent message.

There is a life saving message and the new decree that the gospel that triumphs over the death sentence over us, we still need the death we could never afford But the gospel makes it possible for sinners to be saved. And the question this section prompts is, with what urgency will we share? When Esther asked the king, she said, If the king thinks it right, she was appealing to justice. And then we've got this pretty, pretty extreme ebonic Mordecai. You think that's something is that really right?

That the Jews were allowed to kill, says women and children under their hoods? Well I'm gonna let Alex tackle that next week in chapter nine because there is some really amazing things there, there's deeper questions, deeper things going on that firstly Mithiae that we'll unpack. But the point now is that the death sentence is answered by a counter decree. The Jews are not pardoned from the first edict, but they are empowered to stand against them. So that effectively overturns a death sentence through the royal word of breaking life.

We sang earlier at the day of judgement, when all the stains of our rebellion are cleared before his judgment throne. All the stains of our rebellion, powerful words. We propose God in all kinds of ways And we've earned the death sentence as a result. And the day of judgment is coming. How can any of us stand?

How can any of us stand before a holy God? Who will deliver us from this edict of death? That still stands against us. We need an Esther of our own, don't we? We need someone who will put aside their honour, even give their life on our behalf.

Who will not just stand against this death sentence, but fully satisfies it and cancelled it. We need Jesus, who left his father's throne above and emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. He became a curse for us. He went all the way to death for us and now pleads with his nail pierced hands on behalf of his people. Where he says I know what they can say but how can I bear to see it?

How can I bear to see the destruction they brought on themselves? So we had, what did we have, a big deal, now we've got a big party. Verse 15 to 17, the good news is out Mordecai is exalted, the Jews celebrate, notice the royal dress up? Mordecai there. This is a gentile town called Mocks, it?

You're mogging it? Kathy Chamblin's son told me this, Jaden said, there's a town which basically says you're stealing all the attention. Mordecai is doing that here, he's mooring everyone. He's a war of farming. And even though this law is still standing, the Jewish Prime Minister who should be under this degree is sent out from the presence of the king wearing royal robes and celebrating.

His act needed to enforce his message. You know you have those people who analyse what the royals were or you know, were they saying this or what they were or politicians or what kind of colour tyranny were and all that kind of stuff. Well here we have a huge signal that's sent out to all the provinces that the king's power, the king's force, the king's authority is now decisively and completely lying with the Jews over and against Haman. So anyone planning to follow through with the original decree should recognise that they're in a dangerous position because it has been successfully counteracted. Verse 15, the city of Susa.

Last time we saw the city of Susa, Nesta was chapter three and they were left in a state of confusion. Now the entire city notices, recognises that wrongs have been righted and they're celebrating with the Jews. It's a big party. For the Jews specifically, verse 16, it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honour in stark contrast to the decree that Haman left and what that brought in chapter four, whether it was mourning and fasting and weeping and lamenting. Here the good news turns sorrow into joy.

And the Jews celebrated. The real breath of death stirred in them a real joy and gladness. Even though they still lived in this hostile empire, they were as good as safe. In Romans eight Paul says, those who are predestined, he also called. Those who called, he also justified.

Those who justified, he also glorified. Paul uses their future tense glorified to apply to present tense believers because it's so certain that it will happen it may as well be future tense. Sorry, past tense, glorified, even though the date of the edict is in the future, it's in nine months time, the Jews are so sure of their deliverance, they celebrate. How much more then should we celebrate since in Christ we've been saved from death to life? God's edict of life of all who trust in Christ cannot be revoked, it cannot be challenged.

God's settled decree is there is therefore now no condemnation for the risen Christ Jesus. The joy of the Lord is attractive to outsiders. Do you see that? At one point Esther and Mordecai didn't even confess their nationality and now the Jews are so happy with what God has done they attract others. Esther has been pretending not to be Jewish to the pagans yet here the pagans have pretended to be Jewish.

Exactly what happened to those people is unclear but the point is that the Jews' joy was so attractive that outsiders wanted to be a part of it. The people of God have a gravitational pull. Could the same be true of us? Could the same be said of us possessing attractive Christian joy? But we are celebrating people in the face of judging death.

Those who are in Christ have nothing to fear, so we rejoice. And if we don't, we're not very good recommendations in the Gospel, are we? That's why church is so important. That's why it's so important to be reminded of what we've been saved from, we've been saved for, to sing God's praises together and celebrate the Gospel, to have our feast that we do every month. So there's Esther eight, God providentially saving his people through the means of his people.

And that makes us think how we're going to live under that same providence. So the big question I think this chapter raises is how much do we trust that God is in control? We've seen that throughout the book haven't we? And this chapter teaches us to trust the God who is most present where he is least obvious. There's no spectacular signs here that show that God is at work except we're really his.

But it's through all the means. This time it's through Persian bureaucracy. God is the one who works through all of the reversals in this chapter. It's God who brings Mordecai from rags to riches. It's God who turns sorrow to joy.

And here he is working through his people. Only when we understand that he's in control and trust that he's faithful to his name, he's faithful to his glory, he is sovereign, can we even begin to be like Esther, who is willing to put her life on the line along with her security as the queen of the greatest empire on earth? And that understanding that God is in control frees us. It's liberating because it frees us from, on the one hand, being totally passive and saying well, you know, if God wills it then he wills it. You know, if my neighbour's gonna be saved then my neighbour's gonna be saved.

So on the other hand, kind of a hyper application of it which is basically saying well this is exactly the reason why I'm here and I'm being crushed by the anxiety that causes in over applying our part in and after God's will. Understanding that God's in control allows us and pleases to be faithful. To be faithful without fear of consequence. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the Gospel.

We thank you that you have given us your son, who left his glorious throne, who gave himself for us, who had compassion on us. We thank you for your spirit who brings life. And we thank you for this new edict, the gospel proclamation that you have given to us to send out. We pray that we be people who rejoice in it. We pray that we be people who are confident to be faithful knowing that you are the one who is in control.

You are the one who are working all things for your good, our good. And Lord, you are the one who is working all things for your glory. Lord, we want to honour and magnify King Jesus, and we pray for your help to do that in his name. Amen.