THE ASCENSION OF ESTHER TO BECOME QUEEN

CHRIST THE ROCK CONGREGATION

SUNDAY JANUARY 28^TH 2024

Sermon by pastor Marc Simeon

THE ASCENSION OF ESTHER TO THE THRONE

Esther 2: 1-18

2:1 ¶ After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.

 2 Then the king’s servants who attended him said: “Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king;

 3 “and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to Shushan the citadel, into the women’s quarters, under the custody of Hegai the king’s eunuch, custodian of the women. And let beauty preparations be given them.

 4 “Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This thing pleased the king, and he did so.

 5 In Shushan the citadel there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite.

 6 Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been captured with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.

 7 And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

 8 So it was, when the king’s command and decree were heard, and when many young women were gathered at Shushan the citadel, under the custody of Hegai, that Esther also was taken to the king’s palace, into the care of Hegai the custodian of the women.

 9 Now the young woman pleased him, and she obtained his favor; so he readily gave beauty preparations to her, besides her allowance. Then seven choice maidservants were provided for her from the king’s palace, and he moved her and her maidservants to the best place in the house of the women.

 10 Esther had not revealed her people or family, for Mordecai had charged her not to reveal it.

 11 And every day Mordecai paced in front of the court of the women’s quarters, to learn of Esther’s welfare and what was happening to her.

 12 Each young woman’s turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after she had completed twelve months’ preparation, according to the regulations for the women, for thus were the days of their preparation apportioned: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes and preparations for beautifying women.

 13 Thus prepared, each young woman went to the king, and she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the women’s quarters to the king’s palace.

 14 In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who kept the concubines. She would not go in to the king again unless the king delighted in her and called for her by name.

 15 Now when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her.

 16 So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

 17 The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

 18 Then the king made a great feast, the Feast of Esther, for all his officials and servants; and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces and gave gifts according to the generosity of a king.

INTRODUCTION

• We all like the Cinderella stories.
• They are all about a least likely young lady who is blessed with physical beauty and character, finding favor and romance from a prince or the most prominent bachelor of the land.
• Cinderella would in most cases be an orphan.
• Cinderella would have a she-devil mother-in-law or an oppressive system to obscure all her hopes of a bright future.
• She will be mysteriously noticed by the prince during her glimpse in fantasy and ecstasy land, and then she would disappear to return to her real world.
• There would be a massive search to locate her, until she is found to become bride of the prince.

ESTHER’S ASCENSION TO BECOME QUEEN

• Esther ascension to become the queen in the Medo-Persia Empire must have been the source of inspiration in the Cinderella stories.
• No one saw that one coming.
• No one could predict it because Israel was dismantled by the various captivities.
• The Babylonian Captivity was the last nail in Israel’s coffin.
• God works in mysterious ways.
• The pathway of one’s destiny maybe very obscured, mountainous and twisted, but that doesn’t mean that God has given up on you.
• When God is at work to bring out your destiny, He may use peculiar and mysterious means to achieve that end.
• Esther was destined to be a queen even before she was born.
• Esther was chosen to be a deliverer of our people before she set foot in this world.
• The life of Esther was filled with bitter memories.
• She became an orphan at the very young age.
• She might have been born in Babylon during the Captivity.
• The Captivity itself put her in the class of the disadvantage.
•  She was reared as a second generation captive, which seemed to be enough to abort any plan God had over her life.
• Babylon had been taken over the Medo- Persia Empire must have added more discomfort in the life of Esther to probably relocate.
• Thank God she had an uncle / cousin who adopted her and loved as his own daughter.
• On the good side, Esther was a knocked out gorgeous girl, but her social condition was not enviable.
• God is the maker of history; He can use any means to execute his plans.
• Vasty the former Queen of the land found herself in a difficult situation.
• Her junk husband the king made a demand of her that was not honorable, so she categorically refused to do it.
• Next thing she knows, she was escorted out of the palace.
• She instantly became a divorcee by the pressure of the surroundings of the king.
• King Assuerus was advised to do a beauty contest in the Kingdom to replace the queen.
• While many young ladies rushed to be picked as candidates, it seems that Esther was rather forced into that competition.
• She did not seem to have any say in the matter.
• She could not righty aspire the position because she was disqualified as a Jew.?  
• A Jewish girl could only aspire to become Queen in Israel; there was no king in the land at the time.
• She went in that beauty pageant as a victim of odd circumstances, risking losing her virginity over it and still be sent home.
• Esther was not an ordinary Jew, she was a practicing Jew; she had a strong faith in God that was evidenced times and times again.
• Everyone forgot about Vasti when they saw Esther.
• Esther was everyone’s favorite, not just for her beauty but for her Simplicity and her character.
• She received the best of care from for about a year.
• Lo and behold her night came to present herself before the king.
• What happened in those nights is not to clear.
• There must have been some protocols to follow, but it seems plausible to think that the Young ladies were at the full disposal of the king as sexual objects.
• If any more than just showing up at the King’s house was involved, then Esther was not at fault, she had no say on the matter.
• Esther melted the heart of the king at first glance.
• The secret element working for Esther is called God’s favor.
• God holds the heart of every individual; he made Esther to be irresistible to the king.
• After Esther’s turn, the competition was over.
• You can sense that Esther had many haters because of how all the doors opened up to her.
• God’s favor always causes jealousy from others.
• There are many people who are always looking not in their own plates but in other people’s plates.
• They are never satisfied with what they have; they always prefer what’s in the other person’s plate.
• Here’s a person who just cruised in her destiny.
• All Esther did was to be herself and to be consistent to her God.

Lessons from Esther’s story

• Esther’s beauty was a gift from God, but her virginity was on her account to hold.
• Esther’s simplicity and a sweet personality had to be preserved by her.
• She remained respectful and obedient to Mordecai even after she became a queen.
• Esther becoming a queen was not a mere accident.
• The whole scenario was orchestrated by God for a specific purpose.
• The Jewish people were becoming vulnerable in the land and God had to raise a deliverer to protect them.
• Almost all the deliverers of Israel in the past were men except for Deborah.
• God equipped Esther with beauty and personality for the task at hand.
• While Esther was enjoying her life as a queen, she came into the realization that she was in there for a mission.
• Christians are always on a mission for God no matter where they are.
• Sooner or later the mission will emerge.
• The fate of the Jewish race came to be rested upon Esther’s shoulder.
•  How she responded or failed to respond was going to have a lasting effect.
• She had the ground herself in God to gain the strength and wisdom to embrace her mission.
• Esther passed her mission in life with flying colors.
• Becoming a queen was just a means by which God elevated her to face her true mission.
• You may have many things going for you in your life and you may think that you are blessed and lucky.
• Whatever arsenal you have at your disposal, whether beauty, or intelligence, or influence remember that God armored you with them for your specific mission.
• Esther had a chance to fail, but she pressed on to the end.
• Ask God to help you to identify the mission with the tool he has made you to be.
• Your beauty is not an accident, nothing about you is random.
• The events of your life are ordained by God.
• Each one of us is an Esther of some sort who is greatly indebted to the wellbeing of his fellow men.
• We have to pray like Esther in order to identify our mission and the strategies to carry them out. Amen