A Time for Action (Esther 5) — Esther: The Invisible Hand of Providence

Now last week in Esther four, the Lord brought his people to a series of times.

And so this week, as we would continue in our series in the book of Esther, we will continue upon that theme, or at least we'll start in that theme of time, right?

The Lord was preparing Esther for such a time as this. It was a time for Mordecai to awaken

Esther in verse 13. He says, think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house.

It was a time to remember providence. Verse 14, who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

And it was a time for decision. In verse 16, we have Esther saying resolutely,

I will go in under the king, and if I perish, I perish. And in all these things, it was a time for prayerful preparation.

She called for fasting and she entered the crisis of these chapters of Esther, chapter four, five, and six.

She entered into the crisis, not with self -confidence, but with a people seeking after God in prayer.

And so again, now in chapter five, we see those preparations become a time for action.

This chapter is Esther's first step into obedience after prayer, having sought the Lord's help, and now walking forward to see whether the king will extend the scepter.

And that is often how God leads his people. He prepares us in secret when no one, or at least a very few, are watching, and then he calls us to act in public.

There's a particular kind of courage that is not loud that we see here. It doesn't need to announce itself with trumpets.

It doesn't need to posture itself in front of the masses to see how good and how righteous and strong it is.

Instead, there's a type of courage that simply walks into the room when the room is dangerous. And Esther five is exactly that kind of chapter.

Esther doesn't swing a sword. She doesn't raise an army. She puts on her royal apparel, and she steps into a place where she has no right to be unless the king has called her there, unless the king grants it.

And yet that is the point, right? That faith doesn't invent rights because it doesn't need to.

Faith obeys, faith steps forward, and faith trusts that when the Lord opens a door, no man can shut it on him.

And when the Lord shuts a door, no amount of banging on it will make it open because we don't operate according to our rights to the room, but in faith that the room will be open to us if God wills it.

And so let us hear again the word of God from Esther five, the chapter about action and reaction, right?

Esther acting with faith, and as we'll see Haman reacting with pride.

And under that contrast, we'll also notice as we read in Esther chapter five, a spiritual pattern that we see all across the scriptures that when

God advances his saving purposes, evil doesn't stand still, right? The enemy doesn't just stand still and watch as God makes these moves towards deliverance.

Rather Satan counter moves, he schemes, he escalates, and he tries to strike here in Esther chapter five before deliverance can unfold.

In the unseen things, there is much happening that we do well to observe when God reveals it to us. And in these chapters of Esther, that is exactly what he does.

Often when God advances his saving purpose through faithful action, evil responds with a frantic counter move, revealing here, especially for Haman, pride's emptiness and hastening its own downfall.

One way to think about it is like this, that when God seems to be moving in someone's life, and I'm sure we probably have examples of this, if not ourselves, seems to be moving in somebody's life, drawing them to himself.

And how often do we see that that suddenly comes under attack, right? Relationships start deteriorating, sickness, instability of any kind seems to come in like a thief in the night when it's responding to God's move in that person's life.

God is drawing someone to himself. And all of a sudden it seems like all these things are now pulling their attention away from what

God is doing, or at least they're trying to. But to put it simply, faith acts and pride reacts.

God advances and evil counter moves. But providence ultimately overrules.

Providence ultimately is in charge. And so again, with that, let us read together Esther chapter five as we begin today.

Esther chapter five, and I'll read the whole chapter today. Hear the word of the

Lord. Now it came to pass on the third day that Esther put on her royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the king's house over against the king's house.

And the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house over against the gate of the house. And it was so when the king saw

Esther, the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favor in his sight. And the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand.

So Esther drew near and touched the top of the scepter. Then said the king unto her, what wilt thou queen

Esther? And what is thy request? It shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom.

And Esther answered, if it seemed good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him.

Then the king said, cause Haman to make haste that he may do as Esther hath said. So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

And the king said unto Esther at the banquet of wine, what is thy petition? And it shall be granted thee.

And what is thy request? Even to the half of the kingdom, it shall be performed. Then answered

Esther and said, my petition and my request is, if I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleased the king to grant my petition and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them.

And I will do tomorrow as the king hath said. Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart.

But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate that he stood not up nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai.

Nevertheless, Haman refrained himself. And when he came home, he sent and called for his friends and Zeresh, his wife.

And Haman told them of the glory of his riches and a multitude of his children and all the things wherein the king had promoted him and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.

Haman said, moreover, yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself.

And tomorrow am I invited unto her also with the king. Yet all this availeth me nothing so long as I see

Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate. Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends unto him, let a gallows be made of 50 cubits high.

And tomorrow speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon. Then go thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet and the king, excuse me, and the thing pleased

Haman and he caused the gallows to be made. Thus ends the reading of God's holy word.

May he write it on our hearts by faith. Thanks be to God. Let's pray. Father, again, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for the words of Esther chapter five. And we ask your blessing on our time that you would give us faith to hear what it is you have for us, your people today.

We trust and know that you do have something for us. You have purpose to your word, whatever it proceeds from you.

We know it will not return to you void where we ask that you help us to receive it well, that we will be fertile ground for the work of your spirit.

We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen. So again, let's go back to verse one as we walk through this chapter.

Hear the simplicity of that verse. Now it came to pass on the third day that Esther put on her royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the king's house.

Right, she stood, she comes in, she stands in the inner court. Doesn't mean necessarily that she stood casually there.

It means that she presented herself in a place where she had no right to be unless the king had asked for it, unless the king had granted it.

And we know, because Esther already told us that this is a pretty severe thing. In chapter four, verse 11, all the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces do know that whosoever 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 the king shall hold out the golden scepter.

And so Esther's standing here is a bodily act of faith. It's obedience that can be seen, right?

It's courage that costs. And so we have to understand this about Christian courage, especially as we observe it here with Esther.

The courage is not the absence of fear, rather it is obedience while afraid. Some of us may be inclined to wait to obey until we feel safe, until things seem calm, until we're confident enough, but that is not how scripture speaks.

The Lord says in Joshua 1 .9, be strong and of good courage, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

He does not promise that you will always feel brave. He doesn't promise it's always gonna seem easy, but he promises that he will be with you.

Look at verse two in Esther five, and it was so, right? When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favor in his sight.

And the king held out to Esther the golden scepter. Again, we don't wanna miss the beauties of the theology here as it relates to providence.

God is not named, but he is ruling in this moment. The king's eyes are not autonomous.

He's not a law unto himself. He is subject, whether he is a Christian or not, a Jew at that time or not, he is subject to the rule and authority of the providences of God.

The king's mood is not ultimate. His hand is not sovereign, the Lord is. And so we're not saying

Esther's courage here forces God's hand, forces God to give her favor, because God has never forced, but we are saying this, that God in his ordinary providence, it pleases him to honor the faithfulness of his people.

Obedience has placed her here, and obedience places us in the paths where God's mercies would meet us.

Obedience places us there where God's blessings would come. If you desire the blessings of God, as we read from the fifth commandment earlier, you desire the blessings of God, honor your father and your mother.

But those same blessings are not available to you apart from obedience. This is not to say that God is a vending machine, certainly not.

But rather, this is the means by which God works, those ordinary means of our obedience, he works his blessing into our lives and into the world.

And so it's important that we remember that, that obedience places us in the path of God's mercies, God's blessings.

Keep in mind, Esther doesn't see the scepter. The scepter doesn't get extended to her from far away, right?

She doesn't see the blessings when she's still praying about it, right? When she was indecisive and decided to turn back, or today's not the day.

She wouldn't see the scepter. She wouldn't see that extension of blessing in that moment. She saw the scepter, she saw the blessing where faith stands, in the inner court.

And the King says in verse three, what wilt thou, Queen Esther? What is thy request? It shall be given thee to the half of the kingdom.

Now, to spiritualize for a moment, I think we do well to ask ourselves, you know, where is our inner court, right?

What is the obedience before you that you haven't followed through on, right? A confession that you have to make, a sin that you have to forsake, repent of, an obedience that you keep delaying, whether it's something, you know, that's a one -time thing like baptism, or something more ongoing like family worship or giving, a conversation that you know you have to have.

These are obediences that we have before us. How many of those are we avoiding, right? You keep saying, if God would just show me the open door, right, then

I'll walk through it. If it becomes clear to me, if God makes it clear, then I'll do it. But often the

Lord says, walk, and then you will see. Walk by faith, not by sight, and trust that He is willing and able to bless you in the faithfulness.

That is what faith is, right? That's what the Christian life looks like. That's the strength that Esther is walking in.

And that's why you'll often hear me, when we pray here during service, pray that we'd be strengthened in our faith, because that is the only thing that we need, right?

And it's the only thing that we should really even want when it comes to obedience. We don't need to become better at being good.

We need to become stronger in our faith, in the one who says what good is, and walking in it, and trust in Him.

One other thing I'll note here in these first few verses of Esther chapter five, notice in verse one, this is what some would call, you know, kind of your

Jesus shoe, but it's too good to pass up, we have to talk about it. Verse one, now it came to pass on the third day.

Obviously, for Christians, we know the third day is a significant day. The Lord Jesus rose on the third day. What was

Esther doing at the end of chapter four? She was hidden in prayer. She was hidden in prayer, and on the third day of that prayer and fasting, she rises and walks in to the throne room of God.

When we get to Ascension Sunday, we'll speak more about this, although it's a separate day, because obviously this is, excuse me, in Resurrection Sunday, we'll talk about it as well.

But when Jesus rises from the grave, he doesn't stay there.

They go and they can't find him because he has gone to be with the father. Right on that day of resurrection, he's presented himself to the father.

He is the first fruits. So those first fruits are presented on that first day. And what does the father say of these first fruits, the sacrifice that is

Jesus Christ? On the third day when he rose and he goes and presents himself before the father as the living sacrifice, what does the father do?

What does the king of heaven do? Does he extend the scepter? He does, right? This is a foreshadowing.

This is a picture to us of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Esther is a picture of that to us. She, hidden in prayer for three days, rises and goes before the king and the scepter is extended.

The same is true of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord, hidden in the grave for three days, rises, presents himself before the father and the scepter is extended saying,

I accept this sacrifice for my people forevermore. Amen? You know what, maybe,

I'm just kidding. Maybe we stop, I don't know, that's good. But at any rate, at any rate, this is the beauty of God's word.

This is why we should be a people of the word. It is amazing the ways in which God reveals himself to us, shows himself to us, showed himself to his people, even in the book of Esther, all that he was working and intending to do.

But again, back to the narrative, we go to verse four. Now we see Esther having boldly entered in, favor being extended to her, again, that being a picture to us of Christ, favor being extended to her, what does she do with this favor?

The door's open, the king is listening and her first request is not the thing that she intends ultimately, right?

It's not the petitioning for the sake of her people. Verse four, she says, if it seemed good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him.

And so they come, they feast. Haman's called by the king and they come and they feast with Esther. In verse six, the king asks again, what is thy petition and what is thy request?

It shall be performed. And Esther delays. It would seem she's delaying for maybe nervousness.

We're not sure, it's not very clear in the text, but she delays and says in verse eight, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them.

And I will do tomorrow, as the king has said. Tomorrow, I'll tell you what my petition is, but come back here again tomorrow for a banquet, you and Haman.

And we have to be careful here. Again, the text doesn't tell us everything that Esther is thinking. And I don't wanna preach anything that is a guess as though that were scripture, right?

But there are things that are clear, right? Esther's petition here, excuse me, her delay here is not a retreat, right?

She's not changing her mind. She's saying tomorrow. So we know that she hasn't changed her mind, right? It's not silence, obviously.

Rather, it seems to be a purposeful composure. There's a kind of delay. This is important for us to keep in mind.

There's a kind of delay that's not always cowardice, right? It's not necessarily meaning that you're afraid to do the right thing because you delay something.

There's a kind of delay that can be a wisdom. And this delay here, obviously, wisdom is vindicated by our children.

But the delay here, it would seem, is wisdom because scripture commends timely speech, not merely true speech.

Proverbs 15, 28, the heart of the righteous studyeth to answer, right? So it's patient to answer.

It's paying attention for the right time to answer. There are some of us that need to hear this, I think, because we've been confusing these two things, that we confuse impatience with boldness, right?

That we have zeal, we're just gonna go for it. And somehow that makes us more bold. Maybe it also could just mean that we're being foolish, right?

We also confuse tact with compromise. Someone maybe is taking certain steps to get there.

Oh, they're compromised. Yeah, they're owned. They've been bought. Maybe, but we don't know, right?

Wisdom studies to answer, right? Let's take in all the information before we make rash judgments.

And Esther teaches us that other way, a measured obedience. She's not avoiding the truth.

She's moving toward it at the pace of providence. In between today and tomorrow, we see this in Esther, but it's also true for us.

God acts in a way that no human being can schedule, between days, right? Today to tomorrow,

God's gonna do things in each of our lives, certainly in the world more broadly, that no one's expecting, no one is planning for.

And that is often the way of providence. God works on the hinges between days. Psalm 121, four, he that keepeth

Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. God is always working. He's always moving in the things of the world.

And so we don't know why or how, but it would seem that Esther knew to be patient here. She trusted that instinct to have another banquet the next day, perhaps to further relax the king.

We've seen so far in the narrative that many days of feasting can lead the kingdom to making certain decisions.

Perhaps something else, but we know from where things go, that it was certainly God's intent for her to hold off one more day.

And that gets us through from verses one through eight, Esther's action here. She has requested this initial meeting.

They get it that day. And she requests a second one that they will come back the following day for another banquet between her, the king and Haman.

Now in verse nine, we see the opposite, right? Any Isaac Newton fans here know that that third law of motion,

I think, that every action requires an equal and opposite reaction. So we see now from this action of Esther that there is a reaction that comes not only from Haman, but in the spiritual sense, this action of God leading to a reaction from the enemy.

Verse nine, then went Haman forth that day, joyful and with a glad heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai, that he stood not up nor moved for him, he was full of indignation.

We see how fragile pride is here, right? Haman has honor, he has status, he has influence, he has wealth.

He's been invited to a private banquet with the king and the queen two days in a row. And one man doesn't bow to him and it ruins his whole day.

It ruins his joy. He had, it says in verse nine, he had a glad heart, but when

Haman saw Mordecai, those are the immediate words. He had a glad heart, but when Haman saw Mordecai, he was full of indignation, full of anger, at the sight of one man refusing to honor him.

Pride can swim in a sea of compliments and drown on a teaspoon of resistance. And we notice that Mordecai's, what it looks like, his resistance.

He just didn't stand up, right? It's quiet. It's not showy. It's just a steadfast refusal to do something.

And that kind of quiet refusal exposes the fragility of ungodly power and pride in Haman. Again, note this for our time.

Quiet refusal goes a long way, even in exposing the wicked rulers among us.

It reminds me of Paul's encouragement to the Philippian church in Philippians 1 .28, as they're facing persecution and insults around them.

He says, and in nothing, terrified by your adversaries. Be not terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God.

Your steadfast defiance of the enemy's jeers will not make them happy. It'll offend them even more, right?

They want to get a rise out of you in many cases. The fact that you can withstand their attempts to terrify you with resolve, right?

Not to be horrified by it or scared by it and just be steady in it, it's only further displaying to them that they are on the road to perdition.

It's a sign of destruction to them and that you are on the road to salvation, right?

And so naturally for the wicked, that is gonna cause them to become even more angry because you are displaying to them, they are on the road to perdition and you are not.

Through your action, you are proclaiming to them, they're going to hell and you are not, you are safe in Christ.

That is an offensive, a horribly offensive thing for them. The spiritual, in a spiritual sense, it's causing a great reaction through them or within them.

And so don't be dismayed, Paul is saying, by their further anger. The anger of the godless actually should confirm to you that you're doing something right,

Paul is saying. And so that I'm sure Mordecai was encouraged in that, though we don't know from the text.

But Haman now is angry, right? He goes home and he gathers his wife and his friends. And this should teach us about the importance of keeping good company for young men to find a good wife, for wives to be a good wife and give good wisdom to your husbands and to surround yourself with good friends who are not gonna put you into holes that you're not gonna be able to get yourself out of.

They're gonna cause you to write checks that you can't cash, as they say. But Haman gathers around his wife and his friends and he essentially preaches a sermon about himself and the wonderful life that he lives.

Verse 11, he tells them the glory of his riches, the multitude of his children and how the king promoted him.

Verse 12, he adds that Esther the queen did let no man come in with a king unto the banquet but myself. And then in verse 13, we see this idol unmasked by him.

Yet all this availeth me nothing, this means nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the

Jew sitting at the king's gate. I could have everything. You can give me the whole world and it will mean nothing to me unless I can kill the people of God, especially this man,

Mordecai. All this and nothing, all this good and yet it's meaningless to the man who has made himself into his own

God. And that is what sin does, right? It makes you blind to a thousand mercies and obsessed over one grievance.

It makes you unable to taste God's kindness because you're drinking from the leaking cup of self -importance.

I've seen it too many times where there's an offense taken, whether it's actually sinful or not, there's an offense taken and your sin makes you latch onto it and forget in some cases years of mercies and kindness and friendship for what?

For what? Because someone did something that offended you in a way that you didn't want to be offended.

Again, they may not even sinned against you, you just didn't want to be offended that way. You wanted them to honor what you were doing.

You wanted them to bow to what you were doing. And so instead of just accepting it and hearing it, especially from a friend, people reject it and they're so offended by it that all those years of mercies and kindnesses are forgotten.

Don't let that happen to you, right? Pay attention to this because we all have this prideful impulse.

Be wise not to ignore those things which come up in your conversation constantly and kind of put a wet blanket on things, right?

Everything's going well, you're having friends over, you're having a great conversation, just talking it up and then all of a sudden the conversation gets steered to that thing that you guys, that person keeps bringing up, right?

They can't help themselves, but they talk about it. It's effectively your Mordecai at the gate. So pay attention to those things and root out bitterness swiftly because it will creep in.

It happens to all of us, right? But pay attention to yourself, pay attention to your conversation and don't let it live there.

Don't live in that bitterness. What's that one grievance, that one comparison, that one slight that can swallow your joy, pay attention to that and don't let it.

Scripture says that God resists the proud but gives grace unto the humble. That's in James chapter four, verse six.

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. That's not a warning only, it's an invitation, right?

Humble yourself and trust that God will give grace. And we see things escalate from here, right?

So we have Haman's reaction, now we see it escalating as he tells his wife and his friends all these things and they give him their counsel.

Verse 14, his wife Zeresh says, "'Let a gallows be made,' or really it's all of them. "'Let a gallows be made of 50 cubits high "'and tomorrow speak thou unto the king "'that

Mordecai may be hanged thereon.'" And we see in the text that Haman, his reaction to this is he's pleased, right?

He loves this idea. Now he'll be able to go to the banquet with a sense of relief that this Mordecai has been dealt with.

He'll be able to have more fun at the banquet with the king and queen because he knows that Mordecai is not waiting for him afterwards to ruin it by sitting down at the king's gate.

But consider what's going on here, right? That Haman already has a decree. Mordecai is already sentenced to death.

In a few months, he will be put to death. A day has already been set for destruction, but Haman cannot wait.

His pride will not let him wait. He wants blood now. He wants to strike early. He wants to remove

Mordecai before deliverance can unfold. And he doesn't even know that deliverance is being worked by God in the background.

And this is where we can really state the spiritual principle that's happening underneath this without pretending that the text gives us secret information.

Because when God begins to advance deliverance, evil is counter -moving, it's acting, right?

It escalates, it accelerates. It tries to strike before the appointed time. And we as Christians can't be naive about that, right?

God is bringing Esther before the king to make her appeal and he's giving her favor there. And so the enemy is seeing this in the spiritual realms of things, and he's countering.

He's trying to expedite the destruction. Again, this happens to us all the time if we pay attention.

If you step forward in faithful obedience, you may find opposition intensifies, right? If you begin to repent seriously, especially if you're still in that life or surrounded by people in a life where of sin and lawlessness, if you begin to repent seriously, don't be surprised if temptation gets louder if you continue to surround yourself with that.

If you begin to lead your home in prayer and family worship, don't be surprised if old sins reappear with new force to discourage you.

That doesn't mean that God is absent or that he's not blessing this new obedience that you're trying to do.

Often rather, it means that God is exposing what was hidden. And so we need to remember that refrain that faith acts and then pride reacts, right?

God is advancing and evil is counter moving. But providence is overruling the entire thing.

Haman can build wood, but he can't build destiny, right? He can't build what is coming. He can't build providence.

Proverbs 16, nine, a man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps.

Haman, and we are no different, will try to forge our own destinies, our own futures, but we can only do so much in that regard because ultimately the

Lord directs the steps. The Lord is in control and he will have his way and all things will serve his purposes for his glory and the good of his people.

And it's here that Esther five is kind of leaving us on this bit of a cliffhanger, right? That Haman has devised his way kind of in the middle of Proverbs 16, nine.

Haman has devised his way. The enemy has countered to God's action to give favor to Esther before the king.

How will the Lord direct the next steps? What's coming next? What is God doing? But again, we see this pattern throughout the book of Esther and throughout history, but again, particularly

Esther, God moving and the enemy counteracting. Think back to when Esther was established as queen.

What is the first thing that happens after Esther is established as the queen in the kingdom? Right? Don't tell me.

No one wants to answer. It's okay, you don't have to. The king, there's an attempted assassination on the king, end of chapter two. Or excuse me, yeah, end of chapter two.

The king attempted assassination on the king, right? Esther's established as queen. She's now right there, the leadership of the kingdom.

And then the enemy is establishing a plan to destroy that king, to destroy

Esther, to counteract God's move, to bring peace to his people. And then when

Mordecai overthrows that plot, Haman elevated, right? The enemy is establishing his actors in the way as God is moving.

And now again, no different what we see here in Esther chapter five. God is acting to bring favor to Esther, bring favor to the

Jews, and the enemy is trying to overthrow it, trying to usurp it by destroying Mordecai or sooner than the date of destruction.

So as we close, I want us to take three charges from Esther chapter five. First, step into the room that God has assigned, right?

God has given us all a work to do. He's given us all a labor to do. He's given all of us places where we are to go and take dominion.

And so obey where obedience is costly or hard. And this will look different for each of us. Again, men, women, married, single, adult, or child, but we are to obey where we are and obey in the ways that God would have us to and trust

God with the outcomes of it, right? Wait with prayer -shaped wisdom is the second thing, right?

Don't confuse immediacy with faithfulness. Don't confuse delay with disobedience, but study to answer, study to answer rightly before God.

So step into the room and wait with prayer -shaped wisdom. And then third, refuse the poison of reactive pride.

Don't let one grievance swallow a thousand mercies. Repent quickly, seek grace, seek unity and peace among the brethren, especially.

And when you see evil escalating, don't despair, right? Faith acts and pride reacts, right? We may be living in a season of reaction, you know, at a macro level, historically.

We may be living in a time where the enemy is reacting to the work of God. Don't despair.

God advances, evil counter moves, but providence is in control, providence reigns.

And so finally, we look to Christ. One of the things that I've given much thought to, of course, over the past several months is how do we preach

Esther as Christians, right? We don't wanna just do mere moralism, be brave like Esther and Mordecai were, and then send you out to save yourself.

Rather, Esther is an intercessor who steps toward the throne on behalf of condemned people.

She's a shadow of the greater intercessor, as we talked about earlier, right? The book of Hebrews chapter seven, verse 25, he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

Esther risked her life to plead and Christ laid down his life to save. And so in the greatest irony of all, the enemy's fiercest reaction in history is the cross, right?

And that became by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, the very means of our redemption. The enemy thought that he had won.

He had killed God's Christ, his son. And what's more, he had made God's people, the Jews, to be the ones to carry out the deed, right?

The enemy surely thought that he had won. He had turned God's own people against him to kill him.

But this cross, this curse, will be just like the gallows that Haman is building, taken to counterclaim the people of God.

God uses that to rescue his people from the pains and the penalty of sin, to give us new life in him, because this

Jesus did not stay dead, but he rose again on the third day and is raising us up to new life with him forevermore.

Amen? Amen. And so do not fear the counter moves of evil as though they threaten God's throne.

The Lord reigns. And in that glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, the king extends the scepter to sinners like you and me to be numbered with his people, that he would be our

God and we would be his people. That is where we are in Esther chapter five, that cliffhanger of a moment in history.

The Lord has moved. He is moving. He is working his deliverance. The enemy is counter moving, trying to stop him.

And we'll see as we pick back up next week in Esther chapter six, how will the Lord, what will happen next? Will the

Lord preserve his people in this moment, or will he have to do it, work another way, another path forward?