Based on Esther 1:1-9
By Pastor Glenn Pease

Time magazine covered the extravagance of the Shaw Of Iran back in 1971. It was the 2500th year anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great. Nine kings and five queens were there, along with princes and princesses, and 16 presidents. It was a high class elegant affair that cost $100,000 dollars. As extravagant as it was, however, it could not hold a candle to the banquet thrown by his predecessor many centuries early. Esther begins with an account of possibly the greatest most plush banquet of all time. It will probably never be excelled until the redeemed enter into the marriage supper of the Lamb.

King Ahasurus, better known as King Xerxes, had a banquet for all of his princes, military leaders, and political leaders. It lasted for 180 days, or one half of a year. Now that is what you call a party, it was a six months smorgasbord. Then he topped that off with a seven day banquet for all the people in the capital city of Susa. Xerxes, like most absolute rulers, could be very cruel, but you can be sure of one thing, nobody ever called him a party pooper. The one thing wealthy people have in common is a love for parties. This is their way of revealing their wealth and status. Mrs. Cornelious Vanderbuilt use to spend three hundred thousand a year on entertainment.

Scholars are convinced that Xerxes is trying to make a big impression. He has an ambition to conquer the Greeks, and rule, not just most of the world, but all of the world. This half-year banquet was to get all of his leaders together to persuade them to cooperate, and plan the strategy. Verse 4 stresses that Xerxes paraded his riches and glory before them, and you get the impression it is like may day in Russia, when all of the big rockets, tanks, and other weapons are paraded before the leaders, in order to build the ego, and say to all, look at how great and powerful we are. You can be sure that everyone was impressed with the power and glory of Xerxes. He had wealth beyond our imagination, and we will never see as much gold as he had until we look down as we walk the streets of the heavenly city.

There is no point in trying to describe the splendor of his kingdom. The point we need to see is that the story of Esther takes place in an environment of pleasure and treasure without measure. Almost the entire book takes place in the palace of the king. It is in the midst of glory that we see only in fairy tales. Esther, the Jewish girl, was a mere nobody, and she was exalted into this atmosphere of elegant royalty. It is a true Cinderella story. It is important that we see the environment in which the story takes place. That is the only way you will be able to grasp why things in this book seem to be acceptable that would be totally unacceptable in any other context, for both Jews and Christians.

Martin Luther never could enter into the context of Esther, and see it from the perspective of ancient Eastern royalty. The result is, he despised the book of Esther, and felt it was immoral, and ought not to be in the Bible. You don't have to like what went on in the palace of king Xerxes, but the fact is we can learn a lot of relevant truth about God's working in history by taking advantage of this behind the scenes peek. We are privileged to get an inside view of what is happening in the palace that affects the people of the whole world. We get to follow God into the most exclusive setting, and see how He providentially works behind closed doors in the decision making centers of world governments. Just to be aware that God works in such ways is a valuable revelation that can change your world view.

The first thing the book of Esther does for us is it forces us to broaden our perspective on the sphere of God's working. God is not limited to Israel. He is not limited to His chosen people. God is the God of the whole world, and His providence works even in the pagan world. Mal. 1:5 says, "Great is the Lord, even beyond the borders of Israel." In verse 11 God says, "My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun." Esther brings us into a Persian setting, where we see the whole history of God's people bound up in what happens in Persia. God did not start working in Persia just because Esther and the Jews were there. He had been providentially working in and through the Persians from the start of their kingdom.

Cyrus the Great conquered the Medes and the united them with the Persians to form the Medo-Persian Empire. He was a master strategist who figured out ways to conquer the unconquerable. Mounted Lydian spearmen blocked the road of his forward march. It was like a man with a bebe gun going against a tank. But he sent his baggage camels in front of his lines, and the sight of these beasts frightened the Lydian horses, and they ran off in disorder, and Cyrus marched on to victory.

When Cyrus marched into Babylon, and made it a part of the Persian Empire in 539 B.C., he had some reason for pride. He got a bit heavy on the titles, however, when he proclaimed, "I am Cyrus, king of the universe, great king, mighty king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the world." That just about covered it. He was the richest most powerful man in the world, and he was a pagan. So we write him off as of no value to the purpose of God in history-right? Wrong! He played a major role in God's plan, and that is the point we want to stress, for if we limit God in the sphere of His providence in history, we fail to see Him as the God of all history, and all people, even the pagan people's of the world. There is only one God, and He is the God of all, whether they know it or not.

In the case of Cyrus, the Bible is so clear in its revelation that we cannot miss it. 22 times the Old Testament refers to Cyrus the Great, and everyone of them is positive. Some are so positive as to be shocking. Daniel served under Cyrus, and his successor, Darius, and he was greatly blessed. Darius was the Persian king who had him thrown into the lion's den, and who was so grateful that Daniel was spared. The Persians played a major part in God's plan for Israel. God said of Cyrus the Great in Isa. 44:28, "He is my shepherd and He shall fulfill all my purpose." God used this great pagan ruler to get his people back into the promise land. He sent them back, and he paid for the rebuilding of God's temple in Jerusalem. He also sent back with them all the treasures that had been carried away in Babylon.

God used him like he was an Abraham, Moses, or a Joshua. But the fact is, he did not even know the God of Israel who was using him. Isa. 45:1 says, "Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him, and ungird the loins of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: I will go before you and level mountains, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut asunder the bars of iron..." After other promises of guidance, God says, "I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me."

Now I don't want to go on studying Cryus, for it could take a full message just to look at the text dealing with this man's role in God's plan. I share this brief glimpse so we can see the close interrelationship of Persia and the people of God. They were intertwined from the beginning. The book of Esther is just one chapter in the context of their interrelationship. Here again it is the king of Persia who is the power who will either destroy or deliver the Jews. They will perish or prosper depending upon his choices. So we see God again working behind the scenes to lead this king to fulfill His purpose in history.

Do not think that God does not work in the pagan governments of the world. Do not put God in a box by thinking that pagan leaders will never do anything good in the world, and never make decisions to further the cause of God in the world. This is not only narrow thinking, it is anti-Biblical. God never did pull out of Persia. When we come to the New Testament, the very first people to receive the message of the Messiah's birth were the three wisemen, or the Magi of Persia. John Chrysostom, the great golden mouthed preacher of the fourth century, wrote, "The Incarnate Word on coming to the world gave to the Persians, in the persons of the Magi, the first manifestation of his mercy and light-so that the Jews themselves learned from the mouths of Persians of the birth of their Messiah."

St. Thomas brought the Gospel to Persia, and there has been a continuous history of Jewish and Christian influence in Persia. We cannot cover this whole history, but let me share some highlights, for it relates to what we see God doing in Esther. Esther is just a peek into a vast world of God's providence. It cannot all be a part of Scripture, or the world could not contain the acts of God in history. The point I want to make is that God has been working in Persia from its beginning, and we will know many people in heaven who came to Christ in Persia. In the third century many of the famous doctors of Persia were Christians. In 485 A.D., the chief advisors to the king of Persia was a Christian. Some of the kings of Persia married Christian women, and so you have other stories like this of Esther, where a Jew becomes queen of Persia, married to a pagan king. Christians were among the best educated, and so even when the Arabs conquered Persia in 632, the Christians continued to get the key positions in government and institutions of higher learning.

In the 1200's when Marco Polo visited Persia he found a flourishing Christians community. The Christians had become the favored minority over the Muslim majority. There is much more that is positive, but we need to look at the negative side also, which explains why Christianity is not a power in Iran today. Iran is, of course, the modern name of Persia. God's providence is to give His people a chance to do His will. He does not force them, and if they chose to disobey they can lose His blessing.

The Christians had it made by their wise living, and they could have won the whole nation. But when Christians refused to be Christian, the message of the Gospel does not work. The first mistake of Christians in Persia was their refusal to use the language of the masses. They had their Syriac Bible, but would not use the Arabic, the language of the people. When the Arabs took over, and used Arabic, the masses became a part of Islam instead of Christianity. Today the church goes into all the world to give people the Bible in their own language. Christians have learned from history, if you don't give people the Bible in their own tongue, you will not be able to build on a lasting foundation. Persian history is a perfect example.

Christians were very well educated. They were leaders in the land. Instead of being loving toward the masses, they mocked their ignorance, and despised their pagan customs, and deliberately drank wine on their holy days to show their contempt. You don't have to know much history to know what is the inevitable result of such folly. In 1369 Tamberlane, a descendant of Genghiz Khan, came to power in Persia. He unleashed a reign of terror on Christians. They were rounded up and murdered, and the churches were destroyed, and Christianity never recovered from this scourge. Yes, there will be many in heaven from Persia, but the sad fact is, there will be many less than there should be, because God's providence is not the only force in history.

We need to see this side also, lest we be superficial and conclude, that sense God is providentially working in history, we don't have to worry about anything. Not so, for man is still responsible for his decisions and choices, and what he does can make a big difference in the course of history. Not everything that is, is just how God wants it. Man is constantly making choices that are foolish. God's people can get a break and then blow it, and all can be ruined.

Mordecai made this clear to Esther in 4:14 where he warned her when she toyed with the idea of not getting involved. He said, "For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your fathers house will perish." In other words, Esther still had to make a free choice to go along with the providence of God. She could have said no, and blown it, and gone down in history as a famous traitor rather than a heroine. In all our study of providence, let us never lose sight of the full responsibility of man to follow and obey the will of God. If God opens the door, and I do not go through it, I will not experience the providence of God, and the blessing is lost.

Now, having looked at all this history surrounding and growing out of the book of Esther, the question is, how is all of this to have an effect on our lives today? It is to have this effect in us, that we never write off politics as a sphere where God is not active. No matter how dirty, corrupt, and scandalous politics can be, it is a key area of life where God is at work to accomplish His purpose in history. Yes, government is secular, but that is the point of the book of Esther. God is active in the secular world. God so loved the world, not just the church, and His own people. God loved the world, and still does, and He works in the sphere of that secular world He loves. Esther has no reference to God, or anything religious. It is a secular story from beginning to end. It is in the Bible to make it a clear revelation to all people for all time, God is the God of the secular world as well as the religious world. Grasping this can change your whole outlook on life, and make all of life and history more exciting.

Do not ever assume that a non-Christian leader or politician cannot be a channel of God's purpose in history. To do so is to be blind to the record of God's actual working. God used the pagan rulers of all the great empires of world to achieve His plan. The Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans, everyone of them played a major role in God's plan, and many of them came to be true believers in each of these great empires. But whether the leaders did or not become believers, God used them. He used Caesar Augustus to make a decree to tax the world. This fulfilled the prophecy of the Messiah being born in Bethlehem. Pagan kings and Centurions were constantly playing roles in Paul's life and ministry. When he ended up in Rome, the pagan authorities gave him great freedom to teach and preach about Jesus. Without God's providential leading in the lives of pagan authorities, Paul would not have gotten to share the Gospel in the capital of the world, and impact all of world history.

We see it so clearly in Esther, how God used pagans for His purpose, but it was not new. God has always worked outside of Israel, for His providence is universal. Moses was one of the greatest leaders in the history of Israel, but who had a major influence on his life? It was Jethro, his father-in -law, who was a priest of Midian. He was not a part of Israel, but Moses married his daughter, and got to know him well. They became good friends, and it was Jethro that Moses turned to for advice when the burden of judging Israel too heavy. In Ex. 18 we read of how Jethro told him to set up many lower courts with good men to judge, and he would then be the supreme court where the hardest cases would come. Moses gave heed, and this outsider changed the course of Israel's history.

Melchizedek was such a godly priest in Salem that even though he was a Gentile outside of the people of Israel, he was chosen of God to be a type of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is called a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He was not called a priest after Aaron, or after Israel's priesthood, but after the Gentile Melchizedek. Abraham, the father of Judaism, even paid tithes to this Gentile priest. God was working in a powerful way outside Israel.

We tend to focus on men, for men have, all through ancient history, been the leaders and decision makers. Esther has a balance of male and female cooperation. It took both Esther and Mordecai to fulfill the plan of God for Israel. God used both female and male for the Gentile world as well. Vashti by her refusal to do what was immoral, set the stage for the whole drama that brought Esther to the throne. God is an equal opportunity employer in His providential guidance of history. We will see more of this as we continue our study.

The queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon, and she was so impressed by his wealth and wisdom, she became a believer. She took her faith back to her Gentile land, and only eternity will reveal how God's providence worked through her, but we will know, for Jesus said she will be in heaven judging those who refuse to see the light Christ brought, which was even greater than that of Solomon. We read in Matt. 12:42, "The queen of the South will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here."

It is hard for us to grasp that God is working in the lives of people outside the church. It was hard for Peter to comprehend this when in Acts 10 God was working in the life of Cornelius, and Italian Gentile who had never heard the Gospel. God had to use a vision, and speak to Peter directly, to get him to go to Cornelius. But finally, Peter became a believer in God's providence in the lives of those outside the people of God, and he said in Acts 10:34-35, "Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him." Peter became aware that God so loved the world, and so was at work in all the world to seek and to save.

Jonah not only could not grasp this truth, he hated it. He expected God to wipe out the pagans of Ninevah. Instead, God used the message He brought to bring them to repentance, and He had mercy on them. They were a nation of pagans, and yet God loved them and spared them. Numerous are the examples of God sparing pagan peoples. There are no people that God does not care about. Those who would be truly Christlike must be world conscious people. There must be a love and concern for all people to truly fulfill the will of God. Never has this been more true than today when our world has become so small, that whatever happens to any people can affect all people. We need to be aware of, and be excited about the fact that God is providentially working in all the world.