Undoing the Undoable Part 1

The power of God to change what seems unchangeable is always astonishing, whether it’s on a grand scale like making the sun stand still, or on a personal level like healing an illness. David Jeremiah reveals a prime example of this power to change as it occurs in the story of Esther and her people, the Jews. From the series: Esther: For Such a Time As This.

Dear Lord,
Today…….I am asking all my prayer warriors to say a prayer that may help others. So many people are hurting right now. Many are struggling with finances and need jobs. Some are facing foreclosure and don’t even know how they are going to make it from week to week.. Many are lonely. . Many are heartbroken. . Many are facing sickness and health is fading. . Some are dealing with difficult family members. Many have lost HOPE.. Tonight, let us put our prayers and faith together decree and declare breakthrough over our families. Financial miracles WILL take place. Jobs WILL be found. Our Bodies WILL be made whole & sickness WILL flee. Marriages and relationships WILL be restored. Family members WILL find Jesus. Heartbreaks WILL be healed. JOY WILL be restored and HOPE WILL be found. In Jesus Name. Amen!!!!!! Keep God First…….

When you find yourself in need of a solution that seems impossible.
Do you find comfort in the Bible’s promise that all things are possible with God? Today?
On turning point, Dr David Jeremiah considers how Queen Esther faithfully approached reversing a seemingly irreversible situation from his series on Esther, here’s David to introduce today’s encouraging message undoing the undoable.
Well, you know, sometimes in life, it looks like things have gone too far and there’s no turning them back, not the case with our story.
Today we return to the book of Esther and uh today we’re going to be in the eighth chapter in the 1st 17 verses.
If you have your study guide, please go there. You’ll be ready to follow along.
If you just have your Bible, you’re still in good shape. Go to the eighth chapter of Esther.
Open your Bible to those verses and you’ll follow along as we teach from there.
Today, we’re going to learn in this lesson how God’s power can reverse what seems to be irreversible in the story of Esther and in the story of your life.
So I’ve been telling you during the days of March about the resource for the month, which is the book by Os Hawkins.
Os Hawkins has done the body of Christ such a great favor with these wonderful code books.
They focus in on a certain area of life and go to the scripture, present it in a very attractive way, both visually and then verbally when you open the book, these wonderful words to encourage you this time, it’s the Promise Code 40 Bible promises every believer should claim.
And it’s written by Os Hawkins, my good friend.
We want to give this to you for a gift of any size during the month of March.
We’ve passed the halfway point. So don’t wait too much longer. Get your gift in the mail.
Ask for the book when you send your gift and it’ll be on its way to you before you know it with that in mind.
Let’s uh let’s go and find out the irreversible things that can be reversed here on turning point.
You know, the book of Esther is a presentation of the sovereignty of God.
It is a great encouragement to me to be reminded that even when we can’t see God at work, he’s at work.
Even when we wonder if he’s forgotten us, he hasn’t even when things look so black and so bleak that we’re filled with discouragement in our human spirit.
The Holy Spirit within us reminds us to look up for God is at work and our redemption draws an eye the story of Esther is just one of many stories in the Old Testament that remind us of the miraculous nature of the Jewish people.
Because I was driving in my car listening to a Christian radio station.
They played a record by a famous storyteller by the name of Ethel Barrett.
I had not heard her name in so long, but I remember when I first started in Christian education years ago, Ethel Barrett would speak at all of the major Christian education conferences.
She was one of the first really, really good storytellers and she made many, many records for Children.
And I listened to her as she told the story of Athe in the Old Testament and how God preserved the seed of the Jewish people in a miraculous way.
And I was reminded that if you open this book in the Old Testament and you just begin to thumb through it just about everywhere you turn there is evidence of God’s miraculous deliverance of his people.
Think of Moses in the bull rushes, think of Joseph in Egypt.
Go through the Old Testament and think of Elijah on Mount Carmel.
As you open this book, you know that God is at work and that his miraculous power, even though it isn’t always viewed is working behind the scenes, preserving his special people, the Jews.
And even here in this book of Esther, when Vashti was the queen, things didn’t look so good for the Jews.
When Haman hated Mordecai. Things didn’t look very good for the people of God.
When Haman’s hatred for Mordecai was transferred to the entire Jewish race, things looked even worse when Esther had not been before the king for 30 days and had to walk into his presence and beg for her people.
It seemed like everything was hanging on edge when she lingered in the outer court, waiting for the sector to be extended.
You wondered what would happen when Haman was given the signet ring of the king and told that he could make any law he wanted concerning the Jews for profit.
It seemed as if the story was at its end when Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman and infuriated his wrath, it looked like it would only be hours before the whole Jewish population of Persia would be dead when Haman went home and told his wife how he had been snubbed by Mordecai and old, I love that woman’s name.
She told Haman to go build the gallows and hang more to up on it.
And that’s all the encouragement he needed and he did it and it looked like it would only be but just a day or so.
And Mordecai and Esther and all the Jews would be gone even when Haman and Xerxes were at dinner with the Queen.
Both times you wondered what the outcome would be.
But as we closed, our Bibles, Haman was hung on the gallows, he had prepared for Mordecai and we call that poetic justice God reaping back on the head of those who hated his people that which they had determined to do themselves.
And now we open to the eighth chapter and the story continues and there is in the first two verses, the evidence of the reestablishment of peace among the Jews.
Notice what it says on that day, the day of Haman’s hanging on that day, the king, Aha gave the house of Haman, the Jews enemy into Esther, the queen.
And Mordecai came before the king for Esther had told what he was unto her.
And the king took off his ring which he had taken from Haman and he gave it unto Mordecai and Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman in Persia.
Anyone who forfeited his life to the state automatically forfeited his estate.
We might feel really bad for the wife of Haman who has now lost her husband, who was hung up on the gallows.
And now the government has come and taken her property too.
But don’t forget it was Z’s idea to do all of this in the first place.
So it’s hard to feel too much sadness for her in the process.
She put him up to erecting the gallows back in the fifth chapter verse 14.
And the king gave the estate that belonged to her to Esther poetic justice and compensation.
Haman’s property given over to Esther as a compensation for all of the suffering she had gone through as she was wondering if her entire race would be destroyed.
And the Bible says that Mordecai now comes before the king for Esther has now told King Xerxes what Mordecai is to her.
She reveals her own nationality in chapter seven and verse four.
And now she is very happy and proud to present the king Xerxes Mordecai, her garden and her cousin course not hard to present Mordecai to the king when he’s already the prime minister.
And it’s not hard to brag about the fact that this man is part of my family and he’s cared for me and he’s been my guardian and he’s my cousin, the king had already had a soft spot in his heart for Mordecai.
Remember that he had stayed up all night reading the chronicles and he found out that Mordecai had been the one who saved his life earlier.
So now this intriguing thing is unfolding before him.
Here is this woman Esther who he loves, whose beauty has overwhelmed him and who has asked for anything that she wanted and the king gave it to her.
And now he finds out that this woman that he loves is related to this man that he has come to admire.
And all of this intrigue is happening before the king in the palace.
And Mordecai was given the responsibility in the kingdom.
Notice what it says it was Mordecai who was given the responsibility to guard over Haman’s estate.
And the king took off his ring verse two and he gave that which he had taken from Haman and he gave it to Mordecai and he put Mordecai over the house of Haman.
Now, it’s interesting as you read this story, I told you at the very beginning that this King Xerxes is not a very responsible ruler.
I mean, he kind of runs on a knee jerk reaction.
Have you noticed you’re not too careful about who he gives his ring to?
I mean, it’s not just a ring that you wear for ornamentation.
This ring was the power symbol of the kingdom. He gave it to Haman in a whim.
Now Haman is no longer, they took the ring off of him before they hung him up and now he’s given the ring back to Mordecai.
Of course, the second choice was better than the first.
And one of the commentators I read said Xer’s really had no stomach for the government of Persia.
He was too busy having fun and pleasure. He just wanted anybody to run the place.
He didn’t care who whether it was Haman or Mordecai.
He passed his ring around like it was something he wanted everyone in the kingdom to share.
And once he had handed over his authority, he had given to Esther and Mordecai a plan that would not only save them but would save their entire race.
Peace has been re established in Persia. Haman is dead.
His property has been given over to Esther who in turn gave Mordecai the responsibility for it.
Mordecai, the prime minister is now in power and he has the opportunity to do what needs to be done to save his people.
So in verses three through six, we see the request of the queen on behalf of the Jews notice what it says.
So Esther spoke yet again before the king and fell down at his feet and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman, the aga and his device that he had devised against the Jews.
Then the king held out the golden se toward Esther.
So Esther arose and stood before the king and said, if it pleased the king and if I found favor in his sight and the thing seemed right before the king and if I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hamada, the aga which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king’s provinces.
For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people?
Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?
You see, even though Haman has been killed and this enemy of the Jews has been taken out of the way the decree had already been written and it had been circulated throughout all of Persia that the Jews were to die on a certain day.
That was yet a few weeks ahead.
And as Esther reflected on the joy in her heart and the joy she had for her people, the one thing she couldn’t get rid of was this aching in her spirit and in her heart that while she was free as the queen, the edict that had been put into practice and into place by the devices of Haman was still on the books and unless something could be done to contraband, it, all of the Jews would be killed.
I love the way Esther approaches her husband.
But I mean, I’m telling you ladies, if you want to get something from your husband, this is the way you go about it.
Notice verse five, she says four things before she says the thing she wants to say.
Now watch this, read verse five with me. This is marvelous.
And she said if it pleases the king number one and if I found favor at this sight, number two, and if the thing seem right before the king number three, and if I be pleasing in his eyes, and I’m thinking Xer figures, this is going to be something really big because when you get set up that way, you know, you’re about to get it right between the eyes for full condition before she ever asks for what she wants.
She is desperately concerned for the Jews.
She realizes now as the Persian queen that she is caught on the horns of a dilemma.
She’s in a situation where even though Haman has been killed, the law of the meads and the Persians is in place.
Turn with me in your Bible to the book of Daniel.
I want to just refresh your memory as to what is involved in the law of the medes and the Persians.
Because if you don’t understand this, you won’t understand Esther’s fear. You might be thinking at this point in time.
Well, she’s the queen and Haman is dead. So what’s the big deal?
I mean, she and Mordecai can work this thing out and all the Jews can be saved. Not so fast.
Notice in Daniel in the sixth chapter, I want to show you first eight.
Now old king established the decree and signed the writing that it be not changed according to the law of the meads and Persians which alter not look at verse 10.
Now, when Daniel knew the writing was signed, he went into his house and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem.
He kneeled down upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God.
He began to realize that the only thing he could do to overturn this decree was to pray, turn over to verse 15.
Now these men assembled onto the king and said unto the king.
Now, ok, that the law of the meads and Persians is that no decree nor statute which the king established may be changed.
The law of the meads and Persians was inflexible, inviable.
You could not change it once it was on the books. So here’s what Esther’s got in her heart.
She doesn’t know what to do. I mean, it’s true. She feels a lot better than Haman’s gone.
But King Xerxes has written in the law of the Meads and Persians and you remember how it circulated throughout all the 127 provinces that the Jews could be killed.
And she doesn’t know how she’s going to get this turned around.
Could I pause for just a moment and tell you that one of the good things about studying the Bible is you find out that some things you can’t do, you can do some things that look irreversible are reversible.
And it’s amazing to study what happens in this story and to find out how God through his sovereign workings made it possible for the decree against the Jews to be overruled by a new decree.
And it’s a marvelous illustration as we should see in a moment.
Let’s notice thirdly in verses seven through nine, the reversal of the orders condemning the Jews, we read then the king said unto Esther, the queen and the Mordecai, the Jew behold.
I have given Esther the house of Haman and him, they have hanged upon the gallows because he laid his hand upon the Jews, right?
Ye also for the Jews as it like you in the king’s name and seal it with the king’s ring for the writing which is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s ring.
May no man. Reverse then were the king scribes called at that time in the third month that is the month of Sivan in the three and 20 th day thereof.
And it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded onto the Jews and to the lieutenants and the deputies and the rulers of the provinces which are from India, unto Ethiopia and 127 provinces unto every province according to the writing thereof and unto every people after their language and to the Jews according to their writing and according to their language, now, the king here seems to encourage Esther and he indicates that he’s very favorable both toward her and the Jews.
And remember now he gives them a little record of what he’s already done for them.
He recites what he’s done already to prove his loyalty to the Jews.
And although he is anxious to spare the Jews and to let them off the hook from his previous decree, King Xerxes is powerless to do it.
But he comes up with another plan and he tells Mordecai Mordecai, you write a new decree, you’ve got the ring, you’ve got the power, you put down a new decree that will overrule the old decree, and while the king can’t change his mind, he has given his power unto another and the other can change his mind.
And so Mordecai now in the place of the king is given the opportunity to write a new decree that overturns the old decree.
And the king even brings in the scribes and makes it possible for him, his government involvement for this personal pursuit.
And so Mordecai writes the new decree to emancipate the Jews.
Now, if you’re studying this book with any kind of sense of timing, let me just remind you that the first decree went forth on the 13th day of the first month, April 17th.
If you use the chronology that I have followed, two months and 10 days had gone by giving plenty of time for the Jews to experience the anguish of their impending doom.
I mean, this thing had been in process now for two months and a few days and the Jews knew they were under the sentence of death.
And so they felt the pain of wondering when the act would fall and that the second decree is issued and this decree now needs to be set out.
And some have wondered why it seems to take so long to get this process going.
If you study the timing of it, it isn’t something that immediately happens.
And of course, the answer to that is it didn’t have to immediately happen because there was still enough time left before the decree to kill the Jews would be executed.
And so within that period of time, all that Esther and Mordecai had to do was get the new decree out to all the provinces.
And since it was so important, it was a life and death matter, they wanted to make absolutely certain that they did it right.
And so they wrote it up properly.
And it’s interesting if you have a chance to take the old decree, the decree of death and the new decree, the decree of Life and lay them down beside each other and notice how similar they are and how exact they are.
And the wording is very similar to the first decree which is found back in the third chapter.
Now in verses 10 through 14, we find the release of the ruling which liberates the Jews notice verse 10 and he wrote in the king a Hauer name and sealed it with the king’s ring and sent letters by posts on horseback and writers on mules, camels and young dromedaries wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, to cause to perish all the power of the people and province that would assault them both little ones and women and to take spoil of them for a pray upon one day in all the provinces of king, namely upon the 13th day of the 12th month, which is the month of a dare.
The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all the people and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
So the post that rode upon mules and camels went out being hastened and pressed on by the king’s commandment and the decree was given at Xuan the palace.
So the decree now is being circulated throughout all of Persia.
The death sentence has been lifted and watch this.
Not only has the sentence of death been lifted, but the Jews have been given permission to avenge themselves against any who would come to attack them.
And there’s some very interesting things in this section.
They had to have plenty of advanced notice so that they could prepare, they had to get together, they had to get organized because now they had just been fugitives.
They had known nothing of organizing to avenge themselves. They thought only of their own lives.
And so now they’re giving an offense, they’re given an opportunity to retaliate and they’re told that they will be supported in their opportunity to avenge those who come after them.
I have to tell you that there have been some that I have read in the study, the book of Esther who have a great deal of difficulty with the fact that Mordecai is writing a decree which says that the Jewish people can kill those who come against them, including the women and the Children.
It sounds very, very unlike a loving God.
So they say, but please read the text carefully notice verse 11, how carefully this is written.
And I want to make a point about this in just a moment.
The king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together, to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, to cause to perish all the power of the people and province.
Now watch this here it is that would, what’s this?
Assault them both little ones and women and to take spoil of them for a pray.
You know, if you study Jewish history, you will discover that that has been throughout the Jews history the way they have been involved in warfare.
They have not been an aggressive people that have gone out to assault others except when they were under the command of the Lord, such as in the settling of the land of Canaan.
But the verse doesn’t say that the Jewish people were given a carte blanche to go out into the community in Persia and just find anyone and assault them and kill the babies and kill the women.
No, the decree is that if they come against you, you can defend yourself against them and you can do whatever is needed to be done to make sure that they don’t take your life and they don’t come after you again.
Well, that’s part one of undoing the undoable more about that tomorrow here on turning point.
I hope you’ll be sure to join us.
Then the study guides and the, uh CD package for this series are available from David Jeremiah dot org.
I encourage you to take advantage of this and use these study guides and the CD package to facilitate a small group who study the word of God.
Together, the study guides can be read during the week and people are ready for discussion.
The CD package is for the facilitator to listen to and be fresh on what’s in the chapter.
And there you go. You have these wonderful lessons on this person. Esther, 10 lessons from the book of Esther.
10 weeks, studying the book of Esther with your friends. Find out all about it at David Jeremiah dot org.
Don’t forget we’re going to Alaska and it won’t be long. Alaska’s July 15th to the 22nd.
Uh We have with us that week, James Brown and Tony Dungy from CBS sports interviewed by my son Daniel from the NFL network.
I’ll be teaching the word of God Yuri Vega, Michael Sanchez, all of our turning point family.
And uh we’re having a robust response to this crew.
So don’t wait until the last minute, make your decision and your reservation today.
We’ll see you tomorrow for more information on Dr Jeremiah’s series Esther for such a time as this.
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This is David Michael Jeremiah, join us tomorrow as we continue Esther for such a time as this on turning point with Dr David Jeremiah.