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Queen Esther Risked her own Life to Save her People

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[Esther 4:16]

"Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me.

Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish."

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Have you ever thanked God who gave this country to us?

We live without thinking how thankful it is that there is a country existing for us to be born and live in, but even now, countries disappear and there are lots of countries which were ruined by wars.

Today is the day that we celebrate the Feast of Harvest.

We should thank God who gave us a country to live in and now let me introduce to you a woman in the Bible who even risked her life to protect her country.

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It was the time when Babylon had fallen down and had been changed to a country called Persia and King Xerxes, who was a very strong king, ruled that country.  In that place, there lived many Jewish people who have been captured as slaves in the past from the Babylonians.

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In this country, there was a person called Haman who the king trusted a lot.

He made a terrible plan to kill all of the Jewish people.

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The reason is that a person called Mordecai from Judah wouldn’t even bow down nor honor him, so he aimed to kill Mordecai but not only him, but the entire Jewish race throughout the whole kingdom.

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Haman went to King Xerxes and said to him, “Among the people in your kingdom there is a certain people who live by themselves. They have their own customs and don’t follow the rules of the king. So, I think it is wrong to just let them live in your kingdom. Please give an order which states to kill all the Jewish people in this kingdom.”

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Since King Xerxes entirely believed Haman, he pulled off his signet ring and gave it to Haman for him to do what he wanted to do. The king didn’t know what conspiracy he had made up. The King thought that Haman was only doing this plan to make the people obey him.

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Haman sealed the scripts with the signet ring of the king and announced it to the whole kingdom.

The content stated the set date to kill all the Jewish people not minding young, old, woman, or child and to take all of their property.

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Haman made a very high gallows pole outside of his house.

“To show how great I am, on this gallows, I will put up high for all to see, my enemy, Mordecai, who has neither bowed down to me nor respected me.”

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The news of the terrible plan of Haman, which is to kill the people of Judah, also became known to Queen Esther. Fortunately, Esther, the Queen of Xerxes, was a Jew. However, Haman did not know of this fact.

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Her parents died when Esther was young.

But, her cousin, Mordecai had raised Esther like his own daughter. And by the help of God, Esther became the Queen of this kingdom.

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Esther couldn’t stay still, since; Haman tried to kill her people. But, according to the law of that time, even the Queen could be killed if she went to the King without his consent. The Queen could only approach the King when he called to her. She had to risk her own life in order for her to save her people.

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Esther spoke to Mordecai who was like a father to her saying, “Go and gather all the Jews in Susa and fast for me. Don’t allow them to eat or drink for three days throughout the night and day. My female servants and I will also fast. And even though it’s against the law; I will go to the King. And if I should die, then I will die.”

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Esther and all the Jews in Susa prayed to God for 3 days without eating or drinking.

This was because they believed that God would solve everything.

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After ending the 3 days of fasting, Esther preparing herself for the worst went in front of the King. But, upon seeing Queen Esther approaching him, Esther being so beautiful to his sight, raised out his scepter of gold.

This means that the King was accepting Esther. Esther would be able to live!

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The king said to Esther, “I will even give half of my kingdom to you; say to me what your request is.” God made Esther so beautiful to the King’s eyes.

“It would be a great honor for me if your Majesty would come with Haman to the banquet that I have prepared.”

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At the banquet, Esther explained specifically to King Xerxes about the conspiracy of Haman. Xerxes became very angry.

“Attendants, take out this evil Haman right away.”

So, the soldiers dragged Haman out of the banquet.

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The King found out that Haman had made a very high gallows pole to kill Mordecai and so he ordered to have Haman killed on that instead. Haman died hanging on the gallows that he had made himself.

God always punishes people who do evil things.

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And all the scripts with the order to kill all the Jews were canceled.

Because Esther spoke to the King on behalf of her people’s sake, the Jewish people were spared.

Queen Esther became a person who saved her people.

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I hope dear friends of faith, who have listened to today’s sermon that you will become people of faith who are thankful for living in the Republic of Korea where we can serve God to our heart’s desire and where freedom is guaranteed. And like Esther, I hope you will become a great people of God who can protect this country by faith when experiencing hardships.