The Great Turn Around

Rabbi Ken Alpren
Sermon Notes by Teresa Bennett, Pharm.D.
March 19, 2011

Esther 4:1-3, “When Mordekhai learned everything that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes and went out through the city, lamenting and crying bitterly. 2 He stopped before entering the King's Gate, since no one was allowed to go inside the King's Gate wearing sackcloth. 3 In every province reached by the king's order and decree, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing, as many lay down on sackcloth and ashes.”

Historically, Ha Satan has raised up people to come against the Jews; notably Pharoah, Haman, Antiochus Epiphanes, Hitler, and in our day, Ahmadinajad. All have been judged by G-d based upon Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you, but I will curse anyone who curses you; and by you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

We can’t change the past or even the present, but G-d can add to it and redeem it through our prayers and obedience illustrated so definitively by the story of Esther. The Edict for the death of the Jews was given, but through the prayers and obedience of Esther, Mordekhai and the people, G-d turned the outcome around by an addition to the Edict.

Most recently, we have witnessed much devastation in Japan and other nations with the tsunami and earthquakes. But with His great Grace and Power and through our prayers and obedience to help, G-d can turn the devastation around. We can pray that hearts will be open to Him and that He will use this catastrophic event to draw people to Himself.

Esther 4:10-17, “Then Ester spoke to Hatakh and gave him this message for Mordekhai: 11 "All the king's officials, as well as the people in the royal provinces, know that if anyone, man or woman, approaches the king in the inner courtyard without being summoned, there is just one law - he must be put to death - unless the king holds out the gold scepter for him to remain alive; and I haven't been summoned to the king for the past thirty days." 12 Upon being told what Ester had said, Mordekhai 13 asked them to give Ester this answer: "Don't suppose that merely because you happen to be in the royal palace you will escape any more than the other Jews. 14 For if you fail to speak up now, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from a different direction; but you and your father's family will perish. Who knows whether you didn't come into your royal position precisely for such a time as this." 15 Ester had them return this answer to Mordekhai: 16 "Go, assemble all the Jews to be found in Shushan, and have them fast for me, neither eating nor drinking for three days, night and day; also I and the girls attending me will fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish." 17 Then Mordekhai went his way and did everything Ester had ordered him to do.”

Intercession and intervention go hand in hand. Esther committed to prayer and action. and G-d took what was meant for evil and turned it around.

1 Corinthians 3:19-23, “For the wisdom of this world is nonsense, as far as God is concerned; inasmuch as the Tanakh says, "He traps the wise in their own cleverness,"e 20 and again, "ADONAI knows that the thoughts of the wise are worthless."f 21 So let no one boast about human beings, for all things are yours - 22 whether Sha'ul or Apollos or Kefa or the world or life or death or the present or the future: they all belong to you, 23 and you belong to the Messiah, and the Messiah belongs to God.”

He takes the things of this world and makes them ours through prayer and obedience.

When Mordekhai came to the King’s Gate he was dressed in sackcloth and ashes, Esther’s first response was to bring him fresh clothes demonstrating her fleshly inclination to play down the seriousness of the situation. But Mordekhai was serious. He didn’t allow reason to replace necessity nor past experience to alter or replace G-d’s will. He could understand Esther’s feelings, but he wasn’t sentimental. Sentimentality must not supplant Divine Urgency! We have a choice of succumbing to sites and reasonability or to submit to the Spirit of G-d! We can rationalize and be emotional or we can trust and be obedient!

Mordekhai made it clear to Esther that this was her opportunity, but if she didn’t choose to respond that He would not allow her to escape.

Ultimately, she choose to put G-d’s Will before her needs and witnessed first hand His supernatural provision for her and her people!

Why are we where we are today? Who knows, that you’ve come, just as Esther did, to the Kingdom for such as time as this?

Our purpose here is connected to G-d’s eternal purpose and plan. G-d providentially placed you where you are for an eternal purpose.

Notice that Esther did not wait long to repent. She listened to Mordekhai and without making excuses, she acted! She didn’t apologize with morbid regret or wallow in her selfishness or mistrust.

The application in this passage of Scripture is that we all tend to respond naturally first and say “no” to whatever the L-rd may be directing us to do. But G-d loves a heart that turns to Him and responds even regardless of our first response.

This principle is also illustrated by Peter who never apologized to Yeshua or the Talmidim for being a coward or for abandoning them and he wasn’t sentimental toward himself, either. He pressed forward as should we.

Phil 3:13-14, “Brothers, I, for my part, do not think of myself as having yet gotten hold of it; but one thing I do: forgetting what is behind me and straining forward toward what lies ahead, 14 I keep pursuing the goal in order to win the prize offered by God's upward calling in the Messiah Yeshua.”

Esther concluded that if she perished, she perished. The Hebrew word for perish in this passage of Esther is abad which means she is lost, or even that she has already died or dead to herself.

Gal 2:20, When the Messiah was executed on the stake as a criminal, I was too; so that my proud ego no longer lives. But the Messiah lives in me, and the life I now live in my body I live by the same trusting faithfulness that the Son of God had, who loved me and gave himself up for me. See also Galatians 6:14, Galatians 5:24, Romans 6:6 and Romans 6:2

We are here to make a difference. Like Esther we can humble ourselves and courageously go before our King and make intercession, then with His direction, take action and witness His Work on behalf of men to turn it all around; to draw people to Himself and to save them from destruction which was the result of Esther’s intercession and intervention.

Esther 8:17, “In every province and city where the king's order and decree arrived, the Jews had gladness and joy, a feast and a holiday. Many from the peoples of the land became Jews, because fear of the Jews had overcome them.”

Be an Esther in your day, make a difference by being in His Presence, praying and taking action as He leads and watch Him turn it all around for His glory!

Esther 9:22, “[to commemorate] the days on which the Jews obtained rest from their enemies and the month which for them was turned from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; they were to make them days of celebrating and rejoicing, sending portions [of food] to each other and giving gifts to the poor.”

Further Reading: Matthew 16:24-26, Romans 9:3, Romans 10:1, 1 Corinthians 15:46, Philippians 3:21, Galatians 3:3