Divine Guidance from the Book of Esther (8)

Rev. J.J. van Eckeveld, Zeist, the Netherlands

Bear ye one another’s burdens

Mordecai had put Esther in a bind. She could no longer . escape the situation. She had resigned herself to go to the king and ask for the life of her people. It had to be done, but it is so wonderful to read how she went. We read in Esther 4:16 that she sent the following message to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law.” Thus all the Jews in Shushan had to fast, and inseparably connected to that fasting was prayer. Fasting was a sign of humbling oneself because of sin, a realization of being totally unworthy of the grace of God. What is prayer without this humility? Have we ever prayed in such a way—calling upon God from the depths? In Shushan, prayer was made because of need. Esther needed the intercessory prayers of others. Do we also need them? “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). What a blessing it is when there are fellow sighers, burden-bearers. Esther desired it, and Christ Himself desired it in the garden of Gethsemane although His disciples could not continue with Him for even one hour.

Take refuge in God

Esther and her maidens also fasted and prayed. She was a mistress who led her maidens by example. In her need Esther sought refuge with God. He alone is the Almighty One. She was now drawn away from her luxurious life in the Persian palace and cast upon God. Has the need of your soul ever cast you upon God? Then no one has to tell you to pray; prayer arises out of the depth of need.

Esther realized that she was totally dependent upon God and His grace, and in her need she looked upwards. She no longer tried to make herself beautiful to appear before the king. In the house of Hege, the keeper of the women, she had been overly busy with her appearance, but by so doing she had grieved the Lord. Now it was different; she fasted. With fasting she drew nigh to God; she humbled herself. In the experience of humility, one is brought to realize that he has sinned everything away and no longer has a single right. One also does not know of any other way, however, and therefore cannot relent.

There was continual prayer in Esther’s quarters. There was no longer any place for luxury, pomp, or pleasure. Esther and her maidens turned to God. Has there ever come a time in our lives that prayer has come forth because of the need of our soul? Have we ever learned to call upon God from the depths of our lost condition? Has there ever come an end to all our formal prayers, to our outward praying? When the false rest in our lives is brought to an end by the Lord Himself, then we sigh,

O Lord, make haste to hear my cry,
To Thee I call, on Thee rely;
Incline to me a gracious ear,
And, when I call, in mercy hear.
— Psalter 386:1

Then there is a storming of God’s throne of grace, and the things of this earth—money, possessions, luxury, and enjoyment-become so conditional. We confess before God that we have been such fools because we have always lived as if there were no prospect of death and eternity. There is a pleading before God whether there is still something that can be done for such a fool.

Why did Esther and the Jews have such an urgent need? It was because everything was placed under the sentence of death. They had received a notice of death when the law was published in which it was written that all the Jews were to be destroyed. Have you ever received your own death sentence by becoming seriously ill, by being involved in an accident, or by a sudden death among your acquaintances? When death is placed beside your life, what remains? Do you know what Hezekiah said? “Undertake for me” (Isaiah 38:14). In view of death, everything here on earth becomes irrelevant; yes, everything outside of Jesus falls away.

Esther’s surrender

With Esther and the Jews there was a calling to God that arose out of need. It was a matter of life or death; it was divine deliverance—or death. In this way Esther would go to the king. Take particular notice of the words and so in verse 16: “And so will I go in unto the king.” That means “only in this manner, in a way of prayer and fasting.” As expressed by fasting and prayer, it was only by calling upon God, only in deep humility, only by pleading for His help. Now we hear the words for which Esther has become most well-known, “If I perish, I perish” (verse 16).

Esther surrendered herself unconditionally. She risked everything on behalf of herself and her people. Whether in favor or disfavor, she would now submit herself to the king. No, we must look higher; she now submitted herself to the God unto whom she had called with prayer and fasting. Come what may she would now go. There was no other option, and she no longer desired another option. She surrendered everything, even herself. Looking at the circumstances, there was not much to expect. The law of the court demanded her death, but she could surrender the outcome to the God who had given her the position of queen. For her there was no longer any other way. In the apocryphal portion of the book of Esther, we read that she said, “We have sinned, and Thou art righteous.” Esther undertook this mission with the Lord’s help. She unconditionally gave herself over to Him.

Yielding to God

Do we know what it is to yield all to God? “Oh,” says one who has been convinced by the Holy Ghost of sin, “that is impossible. I cannot stand before God. I do not have the law of an earthly court against me as Esther had, but the law of the heavenly court. I have transgressed all the commandments of that law. That law must curse me. I learned to understand this when it sounded in my guilty soul, ‘Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them’ (Galatians 3:10). In my innermost soul it is proclaimed that there is no help for me with God, and that the golden scepter of God’s grace is not for me.” Have you learned that the Lord has every right and that you have no rights? If He would execute the sentence of death over you, it would be righteous. Everything must testify against you.

Have you experienced that? Has every means of escape been taken away from you as they were from Esther? Have you deserved that sentence, but does your soul still cry out for life out of the depths of your need? Should you not, with Esther, yield all to the Lord? You have nothing to lose in doing so. You already lie in the midst of death. You are already lost. Should you not with Esther fall into the hands of the Lord? “Here am I, guilty, lost, and deserving of condemnation. I can bring nothing with me. Thy holy sentence I have doubly deserved. If I perish, I perish, but I know of no other way than to cast myself down before Thee.” Blessed is he who learns to yield. He who learns to surrender as a lost one, hoping against hope, bowing before the countenance of a righteous God, will not perish, regardless of what may come upon him.

An unconditional surrender

Esther surrendered unconditionally. She decided to go to the king uninvited, even if that very likely would cost her her life. Hoping against hope, she said, “If I perish, I perish.” In doing this she submitted herself into the hands of the God under whose wonderful guidance she had come into the Persian court. Happy are those who learn to fall unconditionally, as a cursed and condemned sinner, into the hands of God. Those who surrender themselves as a lost one, hoping against hope, yielding to receive the righteous stroke, shall not perish. In unconditional surrender to the Lord there is a perishing of self. All that is of us is swept overboard, and we come in the midst of death. In self there is nothing but death. Do you understand that? God is righteous if He eternally banishes me from His presence, but I will still go to the King, “and if I perish, I perish.” Blessed are those people who learn to fall into the hands of God in this way.

The Lord is not like Ahasuerus

Do you know what is such a wonder? It is that the Lord is not like Ahasuerus. Esther had to go to King Ahasuerus uninvited, something that was stringently forbidden. The golden scepter of that king’s favor was for her a big “maybe.” After all, Ahasuerus was a cruel tyrant, dependent upon his whims and moods. The Lord, however, is not that way. Hear His invitation, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1). You do not have to go to the King of kings uninvited as Esther had to go to Ahasuerus. “Yes,” you say, “but do I know my sins deeply enough?” When Brakel in his Reasonable Service deals with the question of how deeply we need to be discovered to our sins, he says that we need to be discovered to such an extent that we can no longer be without Jesus. Is it this way with you? Has the burden of the guilt of your sin become intolerable? Have you come to an end with everything so that you can no longer do without Jesus? To whom else then will you go? “Yes,” you say, “but I cannot bring anything else except empty hands, nothing but guilt and depravity.” Be assured, then, that this King invites unconditionally, saying, “Look unto Me, and be ye saved” (Isaiah 45:22a). He confers grace unto sinners as guilty and lost as they are. His golden scepter of grace is not a big “perhaps” as it was with Ahasuerus. It is actually His delight to save sinners. I do not read anywhere that He has sent one away who fled to Him with the need of his soul.

Not an unapproachable King

Ahasuerus was an unapproachable ruler; no one could simply come to him. Once again, the Lord is not that way. “Yes,” you say, “but the gulf of sin between God and my soul is so deep. It is a chasm that cannot be bridged. I have tried to bridge that abyss, but I ran stuck when I discovered that even my best works were stained with sin. There is no longer any way from me to God.” Oh, that is true; all of God’s children learn that, but do you know what is such a wonder? It is that the Lord Himself has opened a way of return. He Himself says in His Word, “Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6). No, the Lord is not like the unapproachable Ahasuerus. Matthew Henry says in his commentary on the book of Esther, “It is not thus in the court of the King of kings; to the footstool of His throne of grace we may at any time come boldly, and may be sure of an answer of peace to the prayer of faith. We are welcome, not only into the inner court, but even into the holiest, through the blood of Jesus.”

Let the sinner endeavor

Happily the Lord is not like Ahasuerus. He is not full of whims and arbitrariness, but He is a God of grace and faithfulness to all that call upon Him. He has bound Himself by His own Word. You may hold His Word before Him. It is true, He can never do it for your sake, but that is not necessary. He does it for His own Name’s sake. Let us listen once more to what Matthew Henry said, for he said that the trembling sinner is often just as fearful to unreservedly plead upon the Lord’s free grace as Esther was to come to the king. Let him endeavor to do so, as she did, with earnest prayers and supplications.

There is deliverance

Those who thus flee to the Lord with the needs of their souls and of their sins, surrendering themselves to His favor or disfavor, will not perish. Why not? It is because there is One who did perish, namely, Christ Jesus. For Esther it could turn out well. She gave herself over unconditionally for the sake of her people, but there was the possibility of her being presented the golden scepter. For Christ, however, it could not turn out well. For Him there was not even a single ray of light, not a single hope. He had to endure the night of God’s eternal wrath upon sin. He sank away into the depths of being forsaken by God and into the terrors of hell. Then there was no longer any hope. Nevertheless He submitted unconditionally. He loved His own unto the end.

The Lord still permits the proclamation that there is deliverance in Christ and that He through Christ extends the golden scepter of His grace to sinners. Consider this regarding yourself; outside of Christ it can never turn out well, but in Christ it will be well eternally. If the Lord in Christ extends His gracious scepter, souls worthy of death may experience that with Him there is mercy.

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen