Sleepless in Shushan | Sunday, June 27, 2021

Now it came to pass... that night the king could not sleep. So one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus... So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!" (Esther 6, selected)

When the king cannot sleep, the unseen hand of God is already turning the page on the enemy's plot.

God Is There and He Is Not Silent

As we come to Esther chapter 6 this morning, it would be good to begin with a recap. The book of Esther is an important story about the working of God behind the scenes. Some have viewed this book with skepticism, questioning whether it should be in the canon, because God is not explicitly named in its ten chapters. But though God's presence in Esther is obscure—not entirely overt—it is not true that He is not there. We've seen Him at work through the previous five chapters, and we'll see Him again today.

The great apologist Francis Schaeffer used to say, "God is there and He is not silent." That is true in the world we live in, and it is certainly true in the book of Esther. God is working behind the scenes, and that truth is a great thing for me to remember when I look at the world around me. I can become easily discouraged when I see the insane happenings in our world—the chaos of politics, the confusion of our culture. If I pay too close attention without remembering that God is still working behind the scenes, I will be horribly affected by it.

Order and Good from Chaos and Confusion

Five weeks ago, in Esther chapter 1, the book began with the fall of Queen Vashti, which brought significant political chaos and cultural confusion to Persia. But as you look beneath the surface, you begin to see very clearly that God is working. You can debate whether God explicitly turned all the dials to make Vashti fall, or whether He used the events of the world for His purpose. It doesn't really matter where you land on that. What you need to line up behind is that God is working.

From the very beginning—all the way back in Genesis—God has been working to bring order and good from chaos and confusion. He speaks light, truth, goodness, beauty, and order into a formless void and a dark, chaotic, broken world. That's what God does. Never forget it when you look at your own life or the world around you.

In chapter 2, after four years, we saw the rise of Queen Esther—another round of political chaos. I wonder if the key characters felt out of control. Mordecai, Esther's older cousin and guardian, didn't feel in control of the events. And Esther certainly didn't feel she had much say when she was taken to the king's palace. Have you ever felt like the situation you were in was out of control, that you had no say? Of course we have—probably often over the last fifteen months. I don't like to feel out of control. But God is still working, and as Romans 8 says, He works all things together for good.

When God Seems Nowhere

Whatever you're going through personally, or whatever you see happening locally, at the state or federal level, at the border, or in Israel, it's important to step back from time to time. Have a moment of silence. Sit in solitude, have a cup of coffee, turn off Facebook and Instagram and Twitter, put the "do not disturb" on your phone, stop reading whatever flavor of news you like. Read the Psalms or the Proverbs, and remember that God is doing a work. We don't always see Him clearly—just like in the pages of Esther—but if you are a follower of God, you have to believe He is doing something.

I have a good friend and mentor named Mickey Stoney, who years ago wrote a book called God Is. On the cover it could read "God is nowhere"—but as you read it, you realize the title actually is "God is now here." It depends on where you put the space. Mickey is a pastor and chaplain who has worked with many people in crisis, and in those situations people can be tempted to think God is nowhere. I've had those questions too, as a fire chaplain and in ministering to our church family. But the truth is, God is now here.

I remember after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, 2001—hard to believe we'll soon mark the twentieth anniversary—several of us from this church went to New York City and worked with the Red Cross and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. One day near Times Square we were handing out little papers offering a prayer hotline. My friend handed one to a beautiful woman who looked like she was out shopping. She walked a few feet away, then turned back with tears in her eyes. It turned out she was a Jewish woman, and reading that paper stirred deep emotion, because as she thought back over the history of her people, she had concluded, "God has rejected us. He's turned away from us." I'm sure people at the time of Esther felt the same when they saw the chaos of their day. But as you read through this book, you begin to see that God is working—there is structure in the chaos.

The Rise of Haman's Wrath

The fall of Vashti and the rise of Esther bring us to chapter 3, after another five years, where we have the promotion of Haman the Agagite. I've talked before about the history behind that term. With Haman's promotion came the rise of Haman's wrath, because Mordecai the Jew refused to honor and bow before him, even though the king's law commanded it. Haman was filled with wrath so great that he devised a devilish plan to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews—both young and old—in one day throughout the kingdom of Persia.

With this devilish plan we realize there is more going on behind the scenes than just God working. There is a battle in the unseen spiritual realm—between what the Bible calls principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this age, spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. This physical realm we can see, smell, taste, touch, and hear; but there are spiritual dimensions as well, and a cosmic battle rages there. Just as God works behind the scenes to bring truth and order, the enemy of God works to cause chaos and confusion. We see the manifestation of these realities constantly—wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences. If you are a Christian and you know these things, then you need to be prepared to stand and withstand them—an important study of spiritual warfare, especially in Ephesians 6.

For Such a Time as This

In chapter 4, by God's providence and grace, we are given a beautiful reminder of His working. Vashti fell some ten years before Haman's plot; Esther rose to queen about five years before Haman's wrath. By God's grace—though His name never appears—Esther was in the right place at the right time, and Mordecai had the eyes of faith to see it.

Mordecai sent a message to Esther:

Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place... Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this? (Esther 4:13–14)

Those are the words of someone who sees with the eyes of faith. God delivered His people from the Egyptians, the Amalekites, the Philistines—every time. Mordecai trusts He will deliver them again. And his words have encouraged people in difficult circumstances for centuries. Perhaps they'll encourage you, too—in your workplace, on your school campus, wherever you feel everything is against you. It may be that you are there for such a time as this.

Esther's response is the response of faith answering faith:

Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish! (Esther 4:15–16)

From faith to faith—the just shall live by faith. That is foundational to our Christian experience. By faith Esther went before the king, and he accepted her. Then she invited the king and Haman to a banquet. So much chaos, and you're going to throw a party? After three days of fasting, that's your plan? But isn't that just the way God works? He always seems to go right when I would go left.

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8–9)

The countdown is on toward the destruction of the Jews, and yet Esther invites Haman the magnificent over for dinner—and then, instead of making her petition, she invites the king and Haman back for a second banquet the next night. Perhaps her discernment told her now was not the right time. And that is where we left off.

The Sleepless Night

The plot thickens. Haman leaves the palace as high as a kite after his private evening with the king and queen—until he sees Mordecai at the king's gate, who still will not bow. Haman is filled with indignation. He goes home, tells his wife and friends about his grand evening, and then says, "Yet all this means nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate." At the prompting of his wife and friends, Haman builds a gallows fifty cubits—about seventy-five feet—high, planning to execute Mordecai before the next night's dinner.

That night the king could not sleep. (Esther 6:1)

You don't think that's a coincidence, do you? Have you ever had a sleepless night? I've had far too many. I won't say every sleepless night is the providential hand of God—maybe Esther just gave the king too much Persian coffee. But this one was no coincidence. While Haman is across town building his gallows, the restless king calls for the boring, mind-numbing book of the records to be read to him.

And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh... who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. (Esther 6:2)

Back at the end of chapter 2, Mordecai had uncovered a plot to assassinate the king and made it known. And now, on the king's sleepless night, a servant just happens to open the records and read precisely that story. This is one of those points where you have to say: God is now here. God is working at just the right time, in just the right way—often in inexplicit, mysterious ways that you could cover over and say, "Well, maybe that was God." But it was.

The Man the King Delights to Honor

Then the king said, "What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?" And the king's servants who attended him said, "Nothing has been done for him." (Esther 6:3)

Just a coincidence that they read the right passage—and that they'd forgotten to honor Mordecai. So the king asks who is in the court. And Haman had just entered the outer court to suggest hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared. He just happened to drop by on the off chance the king was still awake—probably right after finishing the gallows for the very man the king had just decided to honor. Coincidence? I don't think so.

"What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?" Now Haman thought in his heart, "Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?" (Esther 6:6)

Haman describes an extravagant honor—a royal robe the king has worn, a horse the king has ridden, a royal crown, a noble official to lead him through the city square crying, "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!"

Then the king said to Haman, "Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king's gate! Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken." (Esther 6:10)

I love that people wonder where God is in the book of Esther. At just the right time, in just the right way, He shows up in mysterious and amazing ways. Many times we don't see it until after the fact, when everything has moved along, and looking back we say, "That was where the Lord was working."

So Haman clothed Mordecai, paraded him through the city square, and proclaimed his honor. Then Mordecai returned to the king's gate, but Haman hurried home with his head covered. His wife Zeresh and his friends said to him:

Since Mordecai... is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him but will surely fall before him. (Esther 6:13)

And while they were still speaking, the king's eunuchs arrived to rush Haman to Esther's second banquet.

God Will Not Be Dethroned

The plans and schemes of the enemies of God will always be frustrated. As it has been said, the devil always overplays his hand. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus tells His disciples that "the gates of hades shall not prevail against the church." We sometimes read that as God's people storming the gates of hell. But Adam Clarke offers a better interpretation. He notes that in ancient times the gates of fortified cities were places of council and great strength; so the Lord's expression means that neither the plots, stratagems, nor strength of Satan and his angels shall ever prevail to destroy the sacred truths of the gospel. Though hell should open her gates and vomit out her devils against Christ and His saints, their ruin and discomfiture must follow, for the arm of the Omnipotent must prevail.

The devil always overplays his hand. The strategies hatched at the gates of hell can never prevail against God and His church. Here was a devilish plan against God's people, with Haman as its front man—and now his plan is starting to fall apart. At just the right time, in just the right way, God shows up to win the day.

So here is the truth for us to hold today: the chaos and confusion of our broken world can overwhelm and shake us, but if you are a follower of Almighty God, never forget that God will not be dethroned. Hamans come and go; their rise may come quickly out of nowhere, and their fall often happens the same way. There is much more as we continue into chapter 7 next time—but you'll have to come back for that next week.

Closing Prayer

Father God, I pray that You would help us to remember that even in the midst of confusion and chaos and all the crazy things going on in a broken world, You are on the throne. You have a plan, and You will accomplish it. We have the privilege as those who understand the Scriptures to know how it all wraps up—as we read in Revelation 21 and 22, there will come a day when You rule and reign forever and ever. Isaiah prophesied that of the increase of Your government and peace there will be no end, and You will reign forever. So as Your people we say, Lord, come, bring about Your kingdom. But until You do, give us the eyes of faith to see, even in the midst of chaos and confusion and difficult things we go through individually or as a society, that You are working behind the scenes—and that we would trust You, and step in by faith to be part of the work You are doing, just as Mordecai and Esther did, knowing that You will do a great work. God, help us to hold on to this truth. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.