“God is not just a God of grace but also a God of justice.”
Sermon Title: IN THE END, GOD WINS
Scripture Text: ESTHER 8-10
Sermon Series: ESTHER: GOD BEHIND THE SEEN
Sermon Notes:
ESTHER 8:1-6 NIV
1 That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her.
2 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.
3 Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews.
4 Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him.
5 “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king's provinces.
6 For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”
ESTHER 8:11 NIV
11 The king's edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate any armed force of any nationality or province that might attack them and their women and children; and to plunder the property of their enemies.
ESTHER 9:5 NIV
5 The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did what they pleased to those who hated them.
ESTHER 9:16 NIV
16 Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king's provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their hands on the plunder.
ESTHER 9:13 NIV
13 “If it pleases the king,” Esther answered, “give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day's edict tomorrow also, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on gallows.”
I. HISTORICAL REALITY (LOWER STORY)
ESTHER 8:3-4 NIV
3 Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews.
4 Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him.
ESTHER 8:5-6 NIV
5 “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king's provinces.
6 For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”
ESTHER 8:11 NIV
11 The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate any armed force of any nationality or province that might attack them and their women and children; and to plunder the property of their enemies.
ESTHER 9:1-3 NIV
1 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them.
2 The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those seeking their destruction. No one could stand against them, because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them.
3 And all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the king’s administrators helped the Jews, because fear of Mordecai had seized them.
ESTHER 9:6 NIV
6 In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men.
ESTHER 9:15 NIV
15 The Jews in Susa came together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Susa three hundred men, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.
ESTHER 9:16 NIV
16 Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king's provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their hands on the plunder.
ESTHER 9:7-10 NIV
7 They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha,
10 the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.
ESTHER 9:13 NIV
13 “If it pleases the king,” Esther answered, “give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day's edict tomorrow also, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on gallows.”
- 300 men died in Susa (Esther 9:15)
- 500 men died in the acropolis of Susa (Esther 9:6,12)
- 75,000 people in other parts of the empire (Esther 9:16)
- Plus the ten sons of Haman executed (Esther 9:7-10).
“God executes judgment. He is not just a God of grace but also a God of justice.”
ISAIAH 55:6 NIV
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
2 PETER 3:9-10 NIV
9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
II. EXPERIENTIAL REALITY (MY STORY)
Will we adopt a worldview of faith or a worldview of idolatry?
III. REDEMPTIVE REALITY
ESTHER 9:26-27 NIV
26 (Therefore these days were called Purim, from the word pur.) Because of everything written in this letter and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them,
27 the Jews took it upon themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed.
“When I read aloud about Haman’s downfall … the spark of hope deep inside every Jew’s heart ignited into a flaming torch. … When I finished, everyone cheered. For a brief instant, the dreadful reality of the death camp had been forgotten, all the hunger and suffering had receded. Having exerted all my remaining energy in my reading of the [story], I sat breathless, but with my spirit soaring. And like a river overflowing its banks, the festive atmosphere and the vision of redemption burst out of the broken hearts of the camp inmates.”
J.J.COHEN
“Purim celebrates a historical reality that points to a future hope.”
1 CORINTHIANS 15:57-58 NIV
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
In the end, God wins!!!