Belonging to the Kingdom matters more than | Esther 4:1-17

Good morning, everyone. If you’re new or visiting this morning, a special welcome to you. My name is Evan, if we haven’t met, and I have the privilege of opening up this very interesting part of God’s word this morning. We’re picking up on our series looking at the book of Esther. Last week we took a bit of a break from Esther for Mother’s Day, but it is a pivotal moment in the book this morning. It is a little bit of a confronting passage as well, but there is something really valuable in it for us. So, let’s pray and ask God’s help as we look into it. Let’s pray.

Father God, as we look at your word to us in the book of Esther this morning, please show us your son, Jesus. Help us to see our purpose in him, the life that you call us to live. Please, by your Spirit, grow us and deepen our faith in him for your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

There are certain defining moments in your life, moments which force you to ask yourself, “Whose side am I on?” I have a friend named Jim. His name’s not actually Jim; I’ve changed his name, and you’ll see why. Jim is a tradie, and a couple of years ago, Jim landed the dream job, the job that he’s always wanted, doing the exact kind of thing that he wanted. A few months in, the owner of the business he was working for wanted him to do some of the administrative work: quoting, invoicing, taking payments, stuff like that. But pretty quickly, Jim realized something. This business where he was working his dream job, they were in the practice of charging clients for work that had not been done.

Now, the owner, of course, could justify this. “Our clients, the jobs we’re doing for them, our clients, they’re loaded anyways. They’re still getting what they want. This is just helping our bottom line.” But here’s the thing: Jim is a Christian. Jim is a follower of Jesus, and Jesus is his king. And he said to me, “Evan, I don’t want to do this. I know I cannot do this because I follow Jesus.” And so the choice was before Jim, a defining choice that we all face at some point as followers of Jesus.

In chapter four of Esther that we just read, the passage that we’re looking at today, Esther faces the same question, but on an even bigger scale. Will she side with God’s kingdom and try and save his people from total destruction? Or will she hide and side with the kingdom of the world? And whilst these events happened long ago, my hope is that they will strengthen us so that when we have this choice before us, “Whose side am I on?” we too will have the courage and the resolve to side with Jesus and his kingdom every time.

To see this, we’re going to do three things. We’re going to walk through the passage again. We’re going to see how Esther’s choice and her faith show us Jesus, and then how they call us to live as followers of Jesus. I don’t have slides this morning, so please do keep your Bibles or Bible apps open so that you can follow along.

A Kingdom in Crisis

As I said, it’s been a bit of a break since we’ve been looking at Esther, so a bit of context and a recap. The book of Esther takes place about 400 years before Jesus, 400 years BC. God’s people, the Jews, are living throughout the superpower of the day and of the region, the Persian Empire. In chapter 3, the prime minister, Haman, has issued a genocidal decree against all of God’s people, the Jews. The day is set in about a year’s time. Every Jewish man, woman, and child in the Persian Empire is to be killed. You can see why we didn’t look at this on Mother’s Day. It’s bleak.

A People in Mourning

As our chapter opens in verses 1 to 3, we see that because of this decree, God’s people are hopeless and helpless. Queen Esther’s cousin Mordecai, the man who raised her, is mourning quite rightly about this decree. He mourns very publicly in a very Jewish way. He rips his clothes, he puts on uncomfortable, scratchy sackcloth and heaps ashes upon his head. He’s in mourning. And because this is how he looks, he’s barred from getting anywhere near the king in whose name this decree has been issued. He’s unable to get anywhere near the one person who could do something about this terrible injustice.

We see that it isn’t just Mordecai who does this. We read that God’s people all across this vast Persian Empire are doing similar things. They’re facing total destruction. But not only that, there is no one to hear their cries or turn back this decree. They really are hopeless and helpless.

A Queen in Hiding

But maybe there’s hope. You see, there is a Jew on the inside. There’s Queen Esther, Mordecai’s cousin. So, what will she do when she hears of the news of this decree? In verse 4, we read that Esther is deeply distressed because of her cousin, so she sends him clothes. It’s maybe a little bit underwhelming, but why does she do this? It’s not totally clear. She doesn’t seem to know about the decree, being in her palace. She hasn’t heard about it perhaps, but I think it does speak to the fact that she is still in a place of self-preservation. She’s still hiding.

You see, Mordecai told her to hide the fact that she was a Jew. It’s kind of funny that her name means “hidden.” But now Mordecai’s public mourning, for everyone to see in a very visual way, threatens to expose them both, to show that they’re both Jews. I think what we see here is that Esther is acting out of fear and self-preservation. We see that something needs to change if she’s going to be the savior of God’s people.

In verse 5, Esther actually tries to find out what is wrong. She sends one of her attendants, her eunuchs, Hathak. In verses 7 to 8, Mordecai tells her the whole story about how Haman bribed the king to have this decree issued. He tells her about the decree itself, and he urges her to step in to plead with the king for God’s people. We’re thinking, “Yes, she’s going to step in.” But then we read verse 11. She sends this reply to Mordecai:

"All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king."Esther 4:11

I think what these verses bring into clear focus and remind us of is just how terrible Esther’s situation is. Remember, she was taken into the king’s harem against her will, all part of some kind of perverted kingdom-wide beauty contest. That’s how she became queen. What we see here is that she may be the queen, but she is still powerless. She is still a powerless object in the king’s eyes. She doesn’t have the special line to the king that Mordecai and we as the reader were hoping that she has. Her response is totally natural in this situation. Like any victim, she’s basically saying to Mordecai, “You want me to put my life on the line for this? Heck no, man.”

Given this is where she’s at, what could Mordecai say that would change her mind? What could bring her from this place of fear to a place of courageous faith?

A Defining Choice

We read Mordecai’s challenge from verse 13. I’m going to go through them slowly, so feel free to have a read of them again. We read that Mordecai says to her through this messenger, “Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace, you will escape when all the other Jews are killed.” Mordecai warns her, “Silence will not save you. You’re worried about dying if you go to the king. If you don’t go to him, you’re going to die anyway. This decree, it’s across the whole kingdom, including the palace. They’re going to find out that you’re a Jew.”

Mordecai’s Challenge

He keeps going in verse 14: “If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die.” Even though God’s name is absent from the book of Esther, in his words here, we hear Mordecai’s faith in the God of Israel. He knows that because of God’s promises to Abraham, that Abraham’s people are going to be like the stars in the sky and the sand on the sea, God is going to deliver his people from this. Sure, if Esther doesn’t act, some will die, including her and her family. But this decree is not going to lead to the total destruction of God’s people. Mordecai trusts that God will save his people with or without Esther. As I said earlier, the question is really, “Esther, are you going to get on board with this?”

Which brings us to his last statement to her. I really think this one is the most profound and, in a way, frightening or scary. He says, “Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”

God’s name is absent in Esther, yet we see his providence, his hand. We see it everywhere. This is what Mordecai is saying to Esther. But it’s outrageous, really. He’s saying that all the events, Esther, that led to you becoming queen—remember Queen Vashti’s deposal, the kingdom-wide abduction, and Esther pleasing the king—all of this evil that has been committed around Esther and even to Esther has actually been under the control of God’s hidden hand. It’s all been God’s doing or in God’s control. God did all this to raise Esther to a position where she is able to try and save his people, to save her people.

Esther had been degraded, stripped of her identity. But Mordecai is challenging her to see in her position that God’s providence, God’s purpose, is behind it all. That behind it all is God’s plan to use her for her good, for the good of his people, and for his glory. Whilst it’s hard for us to wrap our head around, it is a kind of grounding statement. He’s reminding her of who God is and what her purpose is, how she should live as one of his people. He’s calling her to step out of fear and step into costly, sacrificial faith.

Esther’s Resolve

We see that’s exactly what she does. Notice the change. Rather than remaining distant in verses 15 to 17, rather than remaining distant and safe, she identifies with the people of God. She has herself, her maids, and all the Jews fast. Most importantly, this is the most important thing: she is willing to put her own life on the line. Hear her resolve and transformation in verse 16. She says, “Though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.”

This really is a radical transformation. Esther goes from being a passive, hidden victim living in fear to stepping out as a courageous, faithful, sacrificial mediator for God’s people. “If I must die, I must die.” We’ll see in the chapters to come that this transformation that Esther undergoes right here is going to prove vital to God’s big plan to save his people. We’ll come to that in the coming weeks. But it’s not really a spoiler alert because this book’s very old. Without going to the ending, we’re going to pause here and think about what this chapter means for us. I have two lessons for us from this chapter.

See the Savior

The first lesson is to see the savior. See the savior. You see, Esther is more than just an example for us to copy. The whole pattern of how the New Testament encourages us to read the Old Testament is to see Jesus in her. She points us to Jesus. Esther’s willingness to put her life on the line to save God’s people is a preview, you might say. It’s a trailer to an even greater savior, to our king and our savior, Jesus.

You see, Jesus came to save his people from a far worse situation. It’s hard to imagine, but from a far worse situation than Esther’s people. He came not to save innocent people who were threatened by an unjust ruler. No, he came to save sinners who had rejected God and who were under God’s righteous judgment. Unlike Esther, Jesus did not hesitate. He knew that the cross awaited him. He did not say, “If I must die.” He knew, “I must die.”

The invitation from Esther’s faith here is to see our savior. See the savior and stand amazed at his marvelous love and to be thankful. We see God’s people do this later in Esther. When everything’s reversed, God’s salvation has been achieved, God’s people celebrate that they have been delivered. We do this, too. We join with the people of God all around the world, all throughout history on Sundays as we meet together to praise God and to celebrate his great work for us in Jesus, his greatest work of salvation. That’s our first lesson: See the Savior.

Side with Our Savior

Our second lesson is to side with our savior. Side with our savior. This comes from Mordecai’s powerful, transforming words to Esther that we read. Just to recap, he reminds her of two things. Who God is: He’s the God who is faithful to his promises. He is the sovereign God who will save. Relief and deliverance not might arise, will arise. He also reminds her of who she is called to be as one of God’s people. She’s called not to side with the kingdom of this world that she’s found herself in, but to honor God and glorify him in the place he has put her in. “You were made queen for just such a time as this.”

What we see is these two things, who God is and who she is in him, transform her into an instrument of God’s salvation. They give her purpose, they give her resolve, and they give her courage. Because of Jesus, the same can be said for us. The same is true for us. I don’t know about you, but I’m generally a pretty fearful person. There’s a lot to be scared of in the world right now. I’m Esther, you might say, at the start of this chapter, wanting to hide, tempted to hide, and wanting to keep quiet. But here’s the reality of following Jesus, one of the most amazing things. You see, our purpose and courage don’t come from some place inside of ourselves by trying to muster it for ourselves. As for Esther in this chapter, they come from remembering who God is and who we are called to be as his people.

In Jesus, we see some of the same things. We see that God is faithful and sovereign. Relief and deliverance have arisen and will arise in Jesus. His saving purposes cannot fail. In him, we receive a new purpose: to belong to him and to shine his light where he has placed us for his purposes and for his glory. Not simply to protect ourselves, not simply to fit into the world around us.

That’s what Mordecai’s words help Esther and us to see. He helps her realize that God’s kingdom is the only kingdom. It’s the only side worth being on. God is faithful. God will save. God will be victorious. He shows her that belonging to God’s kingdom is better than belonging to the world’s kingdom. As I’ve said, she steps out in faith rather than fear. That same choice faces us too. Will I hide, or will I side with the savior?

I have a friend I was talking to the other week. He works in software, and many of his colleagues are scared about the place of AI and all the redundancy and job loss that that could lead to. But instead of joining the panic, he sees that God has placed him where he is for just such a time as this to shine the hope of Jesus, the certainty of Jesus, in amongst the anxiety and the fear that’s in his colleagues. He sees that he is called to side with the savior rather than simply side with the culture around him.

The same question comes to us in all kinds of moments. There’s too many to list, but at work or in business: Will I compromise integrity to get ahead? Or amongst family and friends: Will I stay silent about Jesus to protect myself? Will I blend in and say and do what everyone else does? Or even in areas like dating and relationships: Will I follow Jesus, or will I follow the world’s vision for love and relationships? As I said, there’s too many things to list, but every day in big and small ways, we’re asked, “Whose side am I on?” We are called to side with our savior.

Conclusion

To finish, let’s go back to my friend Jim. As I said, he had a decision before him, a defining moment, a defining decision. Would he go along with the world and lie, or would he side with his king? He ended up telling his boss that he wouldn’t lie to customers, and it basically meant that he couldn’t work there anymore. It cost him. But he knows something that Mordecai wanted Esther to know and wanted us to know.

Brothers and sisters, that is the question that this chapter leaves us with. Whose side are we on? The answer will never come from merely trying to be brave. It comes from seeing our savior, the true and better Esther. The one who did not say, “If I perish, I perish,” but “I will perish for them.” When we see his love for us, when we see that our purpose and our courage and our resolve is found in him, we can step out in faith rather than fear and side with our savior.