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Esther 4:12-14Esther 4:12-14

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What do Bill Gates, Howard Hughes and Madame Chiang Kai Shek have in common?

Answer: THEY ARE ALL PERSONS OF THEIR TIMES!! Why?

Such A Time as ThisSuch A Time as This• The facts:

– Bill Gates and the Windows operating system.

– Howard Hughes and the airline industry in the Unites States.

– Madame Chiang Kai Shek and Second World II.

• They all have practically CHANGED OUR LIFE AND SHAPED HISTORY.

HOW?THEY DISCERN THE TIMES

ANDCATCH THE TIDAL WAVES!!

Such A Time as ThisSuch A Time as This• Purim is

– One of the most joyous festivals in the Hebrew calendar. Why? Because THEIR NATION IS SAVED FROM EXTINCTION.

– About Esther who DISCERNS SUCH A TIME, CATCHES THE TIDAL WAVES AND RIDES ON THEM: she is the one saving her own people from being exterminated by the evil ones.

Such A Time as This – Esther Such A Time as This – Esther Discerns Such A TimeDiscerns Such A Time

• We need to understand that HUMAN BEINGS ARE RELATIONAL BEINGS. What does this mean? It takes two to tango.

• Esther did not discern her position in history out of a vacuum: he had the help of Mordecai.

 5 …named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, 6 who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive … 7 Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This girl, who was also known as Esther, was lovely in form and features, and Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died. (Esther 2:5-7)

Esther was brought to the palace (2:17)

Persian king Xerxes loved Esther (2:17b)

Esther was CHOSEN AS THE QUEEN (2:18)

The transition

King Xerxes commanded that everyone should honor Haman (3:1)

Mordecai did not kneel down to Haman and Haman was angry (3:2-4)

Haman knew of Mordecai’s identity and sought to EXTERMINATE ALL THE JEWS (3:5-10)

Mordecai discovered a conspiracy and was honored by the king (2:19-23)

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

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• Two questions:– One: Why did Mordecai not kneel down to Haman?– Two: Why did Haman want to conspire to kill Mordeca

i and his people?• Answers:

– One: “kneel down” in Esther 3:2 has the idea of “WORSHIPPING GOD” – would Mordecai “worship” Haman? Certainly not! Not to mention that he was a pagan!!

– Two: simple: it was PRIDE!!! He would not let anything get in the way of his pride – probably a false sense of pride!!

Such A Time as This – Esther Such A Time as This – Esther Discerns Such A TimeDiscerns Such A Time

Such A Time as This – Esther Such A Time as This – Esther Discerns Such A TimeDiscerns Such A Time

• Let’s imagine for a moment: what would you and I have done if we were Mordecai?

Faithfulness

Extermination

 1 When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. 2 But he went only as far as the king's gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. 3 In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes. (4:1-3)

The interaction

Such A Time as This – Esther Such A Time as This – Esther Discerns Such A TimeDiscerns Such A Time

• Lesson: “It takes two to tango” means that DISCERNING THE TIMES NEED A LOT OF INTERACTION.– Bill Gates formed a small company in the 1970’s called Microsoft.– Howard Hughes had the vision of building fleets of large commer

cial passenger aircraft – Trans World Airlines was the fruit.– Madame Chiang Kai Shek, in her address to the Congress of the

United States in 1943, shared what happened in China.

Esther found Mordecai

through her servants (4:4-

6)

Esther was informed of

what happened (4:7-8)

Esther informed Mordecai of the difficulty (4:9-

11)

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ESTHER WAS IN CONSTANT INTERACTION WITH

MORDECAI!!!

BEING A LONGER NEVER WORKS!!!

The Lone Ranger

• We see that later in the Book of Esther that Esther stood up for her people – she did catch the waves – but what drove her to do so?

SILENCE IS NOT GOLDEN

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＝

• Verse 14, “For if you remain silent at this time, …”– “remain silent” in the Hebrew

language is stronger: it means “keeping oneself ABSOLUTELY SILENT”.

– A dilemma – or a challenge for Esther: the law of the king or THE GREATEST GOOD, or …

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The extermination of her people!!!

The great “If … then …”

Such A Time as This – Esther Such A Time as This – Esther Catches the WavesCatches the Waves

• What if– Bill Gates had not created Wind

ows?– Howard Hughes had not owned

over 51% of TWA shares?– What if Madame Chiang Kai She

k had not spoken at the U.S. Congress?

– …• How would we feel if we were

faced with such a huge challenge as Esther did?

• Hebrew concept of time:event ＋ ֵעת

(pronounced “ate”)• Verse 14, “… who KNOWS but

that you …”– ,the word is used in Gen 4:1 : יֹוֵדַע

“Adam LAY with his wife …” (pronounced yahah)

– Mordecai was challenging Esther that SHE SHOULD KNOW WELL SUCH A TIME AS THIS AND NOT PASS IT BY!!

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We don’t have time to argue about time!

• Mordecai wanted Esther to LOOK BEYOND THE SITUATIONS AND SEE THE GREATEST GOOD! STEP UP TO THE DIFFICULT CHALLENGE.

• Lesson: catching the waves means that as we are challenged by God through one another, LET’S STOP BEING WIMPY: deal with the difficulties head-on – with God’s help, of course!!! And good things will come out – for everybody!!

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• We all have “Such A Time as This”. When it comes, keep in mind that– We must discern “such a time” with one another – we

need one another.– We must catch the waves, and

• Know well that they are for us, and• Face difficulties with Go-given courage.

• Remember Gates, Hughes and Madame Chiang, and Esther – even Lord Jesus?

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What legacies would we like to have?