The title of this blog, “For Such a Time as This, refers to a passage in the Old Testament book of Esther, in which Israel, God’s “chosen people”, were living under the rule and authority of the most powerful empire in the world at that time in history, Persia. They were so as a result of God, in judgement, exiling them from their homeland due to their distrust of His love and subsequent disobedience to the laws and commandments God had given them to secure their happiness and wellbeing in the “Promised Land.”  900 years earlier God had chosen Israel as the nation He would bless above all the other nations of the earth; the nation through whom He would draw all the other nations back to the glorious relationship with God for which mankind was created, a relationship which was lost due to mankind’s rejection of His purpose for and rule over our lives.  The Bible reveals that God would do so by sending, through the nation of Israel, a Messiah, a Savior who would accomplish everything necessary to rescue men and women from God’s just judgement for their disobedience and reconcile and restore them to the relationship with Him for which man was created.  That Messiah or Savior is the one we now know as Jesus Christ.

Israel was initially taken into captivity by Babylon, the world empire that was in power at that time in history.  Persia had since conquered Babylon and after 70 years in captivity, the Persian ruler, Cyrus the Great, allowed the Jewish people to return to their homeland but remain under Persian rule.  Not all Jews returned to the Promised Land, and those who remained were many times treated with prejudice, suspicion and contempt. 

The events of the book occur in the capital city of Susa, and King Ahasuerus is now the ruler of Persia (Also known as King Xerxes).   He holds a great feast and calls on His wife, Queen Vashti, to attend.  She refuses, having planned an all-girl’s party of her own.  Because of her defiance toward Him as both her husband and King, he divorces her and banishes her from her throne.

King Ahasuerus then sets out to select a new queen by conducting an empire wide beauty contest in which the most beautiful of virgins in the land would become part of his harem for a year. From them he would select the new queen.  Esther will be one of the virgins “selected” by the King’s recruiters to participate.  She is described as “a young women who had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at.”  Esther is a Jew, who has been raised by her older cousin Mortdecai, who advises her not to reveal that she is a Jew, likely fearing immediate disqualification and social contempt.  

Esther soon gained the affection of the king, “And the king loved Esther more than any of the other young women and she obtained grace and favor in his sight…” (Esther 2:17).  Thus, in the providential working of God, she is chosen to be queen. 

However, around this time the king’s most trusted advisor, a highly ambitious man named Haman, sets a plot in motion to have all the Jews throughout the empire killed, literally annihilated as a nation, which, if successful would mean no Messiah – and thus no hope that men and women would ever be reconciled to God.

Haman was the ultimate anti-Semite prior to Hitler.  He despised Mordecai both because he was a Jew and because Mordecai would not give him the servile honor and respect Haman believed he deserved.  Haman thus convinces King Ahasuerus that the Jews are a threat to the empire and the king writes a decree supporting Haman’s plan.  But Haman and the king are not in control of human history; the unseen God, who rules over all the nations of the earth is (Daniel 4:34-36).  Behind the scenes, God is working out His plan to save the Jews and glorify Himself in doing so. 

Thus, Mordecai learns of the plot and informs Esther, advising her that she must intercede with the king, informing him of Haman’s evil motives and petitioning him to nullify the order.  He makes it clear that no one else could stand before the king and successfully plead on behalf of the Jews, only Esther.  Esther is at first reluctant to do so as according to Persian law, even as queen, she can only approach the king when he calls for her.  To do otherwise could result in him responding to her as he did Queen Vashti, or even worse.  Mordecai did not need to convince Esther of the peril her people were in, but he did need to motivate her to push past her fears and trust God.  Thus, he responds to her fears as such: “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, but you and your father’s house will perish.  Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14)

Esther immediately responds to this encouragement by having Mordecai proclaim a fast among the Jews in the city, which she would join along with her servants.  Fasts were typically called for in Israel when the nation was in great peril, signifying their trust and humble dependence upon God to rescue them from that peril.  Esther agrees to approach the King, entrusting her destiny to God.

God’s good hand of providence will be dramatically displayed throughout the events that follow. 

Despite this lethal decree by an earthly king, the invisible hand of the eternal King of the universe will not allow His covenant people to be destroyed and His eternal plan of sending a Messiah through them thwarted.  And through Esther’s intercession, and the Jews expression of faith in and dependence upon the eternal King, namely God, salvation comes to them through God’s invisible hand, who at the same time justly judges their enemies with the same fate they intended to inflict upon the Jews.

So how are we to relate this story to such a time as we live in today; a time when we as a world, a nation, an individual, face innumerable perils, both seen and unseen, and have so throughout human history?  The answer begins with the recognition that the greatest peril we face in this world, in this nation and in our individual lives at any time, is the judgement of a Holy, just and righteous God on our sin – on our rejection of His glorious purpose for and rule over our lives as our creator and eternal King. 

The Bible tells us that God’s hidden hand of judgement is being manifested/displayed daily in all the calamities,  misery and death that pervades this present God ignoring world (Romans 1:18-32).  The Bible reveals also that final judgement will occur on our life at our death (Hebrews 9:27), when God will justly sentence each of us to be eternally separated from the glorious life with Him for which we were created, consigned forever to a place the Bible refers to as Hell (Psalm 9:17).

However,  it was for such a time as this that 2000 years ago God came into this world in the form of a man; the man Jesus Christ;  who in the ultimate expression of God’s love and grace, took upon Himself on a hill called Calvery,  the judgement we deserved, so that all who would turn from their sin, entrust their lives to Jesus as their Savior and submit to His rule over their lives as eternal King, would not perish under God’s just judgement, but receive God’s gracious gift of eternal life. (Romans 6:23).