Bulletins - GracePointe Church SBC

The Name Of The Lord
- - Acts 9:1–19ESV
I Saw The Light
I'll Fly Away
Jesus is mine
Title: Divine Reversal by the Unseen Hand of God

Happy Mother’s Day
Begin with reading Esther 4.

Introducing the Story
The book of Esther is very different from many of the other books for a couple of reasons. First, it is one of only two Old Testament books that takes place completely outside of the Land of Promise. (The other book is Daniel).
Second—and strangely—it is the only book of the Bible where God is not even mentioned. Think of it! A book in the Bible that doesn’t even mention God.
That sounds strange to us think about a book of the Bible that doesn’t mention God. And yet it can very much be our own experience.
How often have we gone through a season of life and have no regard for God.
On the other hand, many of us have experienced the confusion of praying for God to do something when life is difficult—and God seems strangely silent.
That is exactly what we see in Esther. The people of God find themselves in mortal danger. And God seems distant.
But in the middle of this tragedy, God’s unseen hand is at work in the life of a woman named Esther. A believer in God.
God has raised her up to deliver His people. God uses her to accomplish the unexpected.
And I want to say to you that God will use you to accomplish the unexpected. And even though you may not see God at work—it very well may be that He is raising you for a time to come.
The book of Esther is a fascinating story. And even more than that, it is the story of God at work among His people—silent and hidden though He may be.
The book of Esther is a story of God—who even in His hiddenness—is at work to turn sorrow into joy. Mourning into celebration.
Esther is the story of divine reversal. God takes the sorrow of human suffering and turns into the rejoicing of believers who overcome.
God not only delivers His people. But He reverses their fortune. The oppressed will reign with Him. The persecuted will be delivered. The enslaved will be set free. The humiliated will be exalted.
Let’s begin by telling the story.
Telling the Story
Background
The Story of Esther begins during the time that the Jews were in captivity to the Persians. So we are somewhere around 475 BC. This is 1500 years after Abraham. About 1000 years after Moses. And about 500 years after David.
During the time that Esther is taking place, the Jews are celebrating what is called the Feast of Purim.
The Jews celebrate two primary feasts. The first feast is the one that we are most familiar with. It is called the Feast of Passover. It is a time when the Jews celebrate God delivering from the Egypt during the time of Moses.
Passover is also the feast that is being celebrated by Jesus and the Apostles when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper.
The other feast is called the Feast of Purim. It is when they celebrate God delivering them from the Persians. The Persian captivity was even worse than the Egyptian captivity.
The Egyptians wanted to enslave the Jews. The Persians wanted to destroy them. Annihilate them.
The two feasts are very different. The time of Passover calm. Reflective. Prayerful. Meditative.
The Feast of Purim is a celebration. A party. It was loud and raucous.
The Feast of Purim develops after these events in the book of Esther.
Names to Remember
In order to understand the story, there are a few names that you will need to remember. The good guys in this story are—obviously—Esther. Esther is also called Hadassah.
Esther really had the deck stacked against her. She was a woman, a Jew living in enemy territory, and an orphan. That is a bad combination during the times of the Old Testament.
Esther was practically adopted by her older cousin, Mordecai. Mordecai is the second good guy that you want to remember.
There is a bad guy by the name of Haman. He is manipulative and selfish.
Then there is the king, Ahasuerus (or Xerxes). The king is kind of an in-between guy. He is not presented as a good guy or a bad guy. He is what you would call in literature, a foil.
He is neither good nor bad. His position outweighs his ability.

The book of Esther is most easily divided into four scenes.
Scene 1: Esther Replaces Vashti (1:1-2:20)
King Ahasuerus was a very powerful king. The Bible tells us that he ruled from India all the way down to the African country of Cush. Which we now call Ethiopia.
When the book of Esther begins, the king is throwing a big party. Seven days into the party, the king calls for his wife, Vashti, to come to where he is so that he can show her off.
Queen Vashti refuses to come and so the king puts her out of the kingdom and goes on a search for a new queen.
After some time, the king settles on the Jewish orphan, Esther. However, the Persian King did not know that Esther was Jewish when he chose her to be the new queen.
Esther follows the advice of Mordecai and keeps her Jewish heritage a secret for fear that—if the king knew that Esther was part of the enemy—he would kill her.
So, Esther becomes queen in the enemy territory of the Persians.
Scene 2: Mordecai Saves the King (2:21-3:15)
The second scene focuses on Mordecai—Esther’s older cousin who had adopted her as his own.
Mordecai discovers that there is a plan to assassinate the King. So he sends word to Esther, who in turn, tells the king.
The plot is foiled. And so Mordecai essentially saves the king’s life from an attempted assassination.
Some time after that, the King becomes impressed with an evil villain by the name of Haman.
Haman is the quintessential narcissist. He loved to walk through the streets of the kingdom for no other reason than to watch people bow down to him.
That is, until he met Mordecai. Mordecai refused to bow to Haman, which infuriated Haman.
Haman was so angry that he not only planned to destroy Mordecai, but he planned to destroy all of the Jews.
The entire nation of Jews was going to suffer because of one man.
So Haman runs to the king and tattle-tales on Mordecai.
The king, then, so easily influenced by the last one who tells the tale, gives Haman the authorization to put to death all of the Jews—including the very one who had saved his life from the assassination plot just a little while earlier.
In other words, he agreed to the destruction of the one who wanted to save his life.
Scene 3: Esther Appeals to the King (4:1-5:14)
As you can imagine, Mordecai is angered at the decree of the destruction of his people.
Esther gets wind of the king’s decree and is frightened because she knows that this means that her own people, including Mordecai, will be put to death.
Furthermore, Ester’s Jewish identity is still a secret. What will the king do if he finds out that his own wife is a Jew?
He has already kicked one wife out of the kingdom simply because she didn’t come to him when he summoned her. Will he have Esther put to death with the rest of the Jews?
But if she doesn’t say anything, her adopted father is going to be put to death, along with all of the other Jews.
It is certainly a predicament.
Mordecai sent word to Esther in the palace pleading for her to intervene on behalf of the people.
Esther responded that she had not seen the king and was not sure when she would and did not know if there was anything that she could even if she did see him.
Mordecai told her in 4:13-14 that even if she did not intervene, she too would be discovered and put to death and then there would be someone else who would rise to the defense of the people of God.
Mordecai believed that God—even when He is not seen—is still at work. But Mordecai wanted Esther to know that God’s desire was to use Esther, indeed, she have been raised up for such as time as this.
This may be the moment that God had created her for. Do not miss that moment!
Esther agrees and sends word to Mordecai. She asks for Mordecai and all of the Jews to fast and pray for three days. Esther said that she will do the same.
After three days of fasting and praying, she would intervene to the king for the people.
She was determined. She was willing to perish. If she perishes, then she perishes. But at least she would do the right thing.
Obedience trumps safety every single time.
Scene 4: God Reverses the Fortunes (6:1-10:3)
Read Chapter 7 [and maybe 8].
Following this, the king issues an edict making the people of God a prized people within the land. Mordecai is promoted to Haman’s place.
And Mordecai is blessed by God.
Read chapter 10.
Applying the Story
The circumstances of Esther’s environment may seem extremely different than our own. She lived 2500 years ago in an area of the word where most of us will never go.
She went from peasant to queen.
Her circumstances are different.
But the story of human struggle has been the same for thousands of years. The story of the human struggle is that we seem to always stand on the brink of self-destruction.
There are always enemies. There is always opposition. This is a world that is filled with violence and terror and threat.
It is a world that we may sometimes feel threatens our very existence.
What makes matters worse is when we feel as if we have simply been swallowed up by all of the turmoil.
But—even worse—and most difficult of all—is when we feel that God is silent.
The interesting aspect of the book of Esther is that God is not even mentioned once.
But Esther’s story teaches us that—though God may sometimes be silent—He is not absent. He is working even when we don’t see Him.
A Story of Hope: God Has Not Forgotten You
The story of Esther, and the Jews, was not merely a story of survival. It was a story of thriving in spite of what seems to be insurmountable obstacles.
Esther was not only promoted to queen despite being a Jew, but Mordecai was became the second most prominent person in Persia. The one who was persecuted—a Jew—was exalted to a place of prominence even though his enemies wanted him killed.
The book of Esther ends by saying that Mordecai continued to pursue prosperity for his people and to speak for the well-being of all of this descendants.
The word for *prosperity* is the Hebrew word tob and the word for *well-being* is the word shalom.
These two words are the greatest words of human fruitfulness and blessedness in the Old Testament.
In other words, the Bible is saying that Esther led the people to a place of absolute goodness and satisfaction and joy and peacefulness because she obeyed God.
Mordecai led the people and they knew him and they trusted him and they followed him because he acted from faith.
Listen, church, no matter who you are, where you’ve been, whether your male or female, young or old, you can have hope—God has not forgotten you. And He will use you.
A Story of Providence: God is at Work for You
Have you ever left God out of the equation? Have you ever been too quick to give yourself credit and to slow give God praise for some good thing that comes about in your life?
Most of us have done that.
We can often live without acknowledging God.
It is not by accident that God is not even mentioned in the book of Esther. It wasn’t an oversight of the Holy Spirit.
The absence of the name of God is part of the theological message of Esther. The absence of God’s name in Esther is to teach that—even when we don’t see God—He is at work. He is present. He is active.
An unseen God is not the same as an absent God.
You may not always see Him. But He is never absent.
A Story of Grace: God Will Use Even You
The odds were seriously stacked against Esther and Mordecai. They were Jews in enemy territory.
Esther was an orphan.
Esther was a woman.
But God orchestrates a divine reversal of fortunes.
Esther rises from the poverty of orphandness, Jewishness, femaleness, and becomes the most prominent woman in Persia.
She is used by God to save thousands of people.
Mordecai, too, experiences a divine reversal of fortunes. Haman—the second most prominent man in Persia—constructed gallows that were fit for Mordecai’s neck.
By the end of the story it was Haman who had the gallows-floor drop for from beneath him and Mordecai who ascended the stairs of divine exaltation.
The story of Esther teaches us that God uses us in spite of our moral failures. In spite of our sin. This is the great demonstration of God’s grace.
Esther’s actions within this story were not perfect. She was part of harem and was apparently one of the kings favorite concubines. And yet—she was God’s chosen vessel to bring deliverance to His people.
That is not unique to the character of the Bible. We have a tendency to place them upon pedestals as sinless saints. And yet they were anything but.
Noah committed horrible sin after the Lord delivered him from the Ark. Abraham doubted God and lied more than once.
David committed adultery. Rahab was a prostitute. Peter was a denier and Paul was a murderer.
And yet God used them. And He will use you, too.
You may be growing discouraged today. You may be growing weary. You may find yourself at the point of wanting to “give-up” at times.
But—even when you don’t see Him—and even when you can’t hear Him—God is at work.
The silence of God is not the absence of God. Keep trusting Him.
Conclusion: The Christ Connection
The story of Esther is not merely a story that shows us some things that happened thousands of years ago. It is a story that prepares us and shows us the work of Jesus Christ.
Esther could have chosen to stay safe in the palace. Hidden. Her true identity kept a secret.
And yet she didn’t do that.
The greatest story of divine reversal is what God did for us through Jesus Christ. We who were destined for destruction have received the intercession of Jesus Christ.
He was born in “the fullness of time” so that we might be rescued from the gallows of God’s wrath.
I Need Thee Every Hour (I Need Thee)
This Little Light Of Mine

Acts 9:1–19ESV

A Story of Hope: God Has Not Forgotten You

A Story of Providence: God is at Work for You

A Story of Grace: God Will Use Even You

Conclusion: The Christ Connection