Session 7 – Lesser Known Women of the Bible; Queen Vashti: Dr. David Fleming, 11/24/24

Women lesson 7
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[00:00:00] Uh, we're talking about lesser-known women of the Bible and lesser-known aspects of some of those you may know very well. That's some of the ones that I've covered. But today I'm gonna give you a little pretest, and let's see how many of you have, uh, heard of or know Esther. How many of you know who Esther is, right?

You got Esther. Okay, so is Esther lesser known? No. Not at all. In fact, there is a book, and if you have a copy of God's Word, you can turn to Esther chapter one, and the book there in the Old Testament is named for her because she, well, at least at first glance, may be the very star of the book. The Book Esther, uh, is about the sovereignty and the providence of God, [00:01:00] and even if behind the scenes, as is the case in Esther, God is working out His plans and His purposes and accomplishing His will through people and in people's lives and in history throughout the Book of Esther.

So the book is really not about Esther, the book is really about God. But what's interesting is the Book of Esther chapter one, we don't meet Esther. Uh, we meet someone else in chapter one. In fact, Esther's not even mentioned in chapter one of Esther, but the queen that is mentioned there is named Vashti.

Uh, I'm gonna lapse, I'll confess now, just don't giggle out loud when I do, but I'm gonna call her Vashti at least five times, okay? Just let me get away with it, all right? I'm from a different part of the country. Uh, we have different ways of saying things. For example, today is S-U-N-D-A-Y. How do you pronounce that?

Sunday. Not me. It's Sunday. Followed by Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, [00:02:00] Saturday, Sunday. You get it? Yes. Now, if you wanna be particular, really we would actually say it with a W sound. It's, in the Hebrew it'd be Vashti or something along those lines. Uh, Mark would pronounce it exactly right. Uh, I'm gonna go with Vashti when I get it right and Vashti when I don't.

Same person, okay? Same person. I haven't changed the topics on you. It's the same person we're gonna be talking about today. And so we're gonna jump into this study and meet this, uh, queen of Persia. Uh, she is King Nebuchadnezzar's granddaughter, if you wanna set this in its historical context, and Belshazzar's daughter, so you'll find references to this period of time in Daniel and a couple of other places.

She was taken, likely as a child, from her home and family when Darius conquered Belshazzar and was given later to the son of Darius, Xerxes. X- say that with me. Xerxes. Xerxes. It starts with an X, Xerxes. And so we will meet her. [00:03:00] Uh, and you might remember Xerxes. He, he's kind of a movie star. Uh, if you've ever seen the movie 300.

I'm not advising you to watch it. I'm not recommending it. I'm asking if you've seen it, you would remember this fella, a not so nice guy from the Greco-Persian wars. The movie comes from the Battle of Thermopylae, where King Leonidas unites 300 Spartans into battle against the Persian army and the god-king, Xerxes, and his invading army of, in the movie, 300,000 soldiers.

Uh, by the way, it did not go well for either party. Uh, if you saw the movie, if you know the story, the Greco-Persian wars, uh, it's a stalemate. It's a dead end for King Xerxes, and it costs everything, uh, to the Greeks as well. But that's who we're, uh, talking about. You might even remember, uh, who is that?

Gerard Butler Gerard Butler was the heroine or the hero, not heroine. That'd be... Sorry. Hero of the story in the Battle of [00:04:00] Thermopylae. And then there's Queen Vashti. Say that with me. Vashti. Vashti. Queen Vashti. The movie doesn't tell her story. We get no mention of her in any, uh, of those documents. But we do have, uh, the story of Vashti in the Book of Esther, chapter one.

She's not Jewish. She is not Jewish. She's Gentile. In fact, she's Persian. Uh, and so she is an interesting insert into the story on page one, chapter one of Esther. Her name means beautiful woman, uh, or perhaps even sweetheart. It doesn't have to be her designated name. Uh, we have some extra-biblical historians that reference the wives of Xerxes.

Uh, it, it's not unreasonable that Vashti is known in those extra-biblical writings by her proper name, but referred to here in Esther because of her role in chapter one as a beautiful queen. She's a beautiful, beautiful woman, and that's who we're gonna look at today. So let's get our roadmap out here in front of us.

We always like to know where we're going so we'll know when we got there. [00:05:00] That's the time for you to reach over and wake him up, uh, when we hit the end of the road 'cause time to go to church. First, we'll look at our context. We wanna always understand what's happening in context. It's a very important part of Bible study and interpretation, as you know.

You never wanna lift something up out of its context, carry it over, and plop it down into a contemporary mindset and thought because likely you're gonna lose the proper interpretive connection to the context, and you will miss the meaning. So we always wanna keep those closely connected. So we'll look at the context.

We'll dive into the particulars of Vashti's story. And then, of course, we always wanna have something to take home with us. We call those our points for home. So now let's look into the text. Esther, not Vashti. Esther chapter one. Let's read together. Now, in the days of Ahasuerus The Ahasuerus, this is by all accounts Xerxes, uh, who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces.

In other words, this is a massive [00:06:00] empire. This is the largest empire in the history of humanity to this time, as far as recorded history. And in those days, and I'm gonna slip in his name so we'll stay connected, King Xerxes sat on his royal throne in Susa, the citadel, and there, uh, we get a good picture of the s- 127 provinces.

You go all the way to the east into India, and all the way to the south down into Egypt and along the Arabian Sea, and to the northeast you'll notice, and this is important for those of you movie fans of 300, you'll notice the movement of the Persian kingdom, the Medo-Persian kingdom, up into Asia Minor, over into Europe, and right about here is the Battle of Thermopylae.

So it's a vast empire. It's a massive, massive, massive empire. A- and lots of wealth and lots of power and lots of resources, the largest in recorded human history. So in the third year of his reign, three years in, and the Battle of Thermopylae and the Greco-Persian Wars happen about seven [00:07:00] years in, so we're sort of in the midpoint, uh, of his reign beginning and his encounter in Greece.

We're sort of right there, and that's gonna be important to the context in just a moment. In the third year of his reign, he gave a feast for all of his officials and all of his servants, the army of Persia and Media, and the nobles and governors of the provinces. How many provinces? Hundred and twenty-seven, very good, uh, were before him.

So they're all there. It's time for a big gathering. It's time, uh, for a huge party. This is a massive get-together. For about six months, 180 days, they're gathered together, and these are the elite of Persia. Uh, these are the highest, smartest, most able and capable military and political leaders throughout the whole kingdom, and they're gathered for six months.

Now, what are they doing for six months? Well, there, there's a banquet-esque to this. They're having a gathering. They're having a fellowship. In our [00:08:00] vernacular, they're, they're having a party. Uh, but they're also doing a little bit of planning. It's fully thought, uh, that during this six months is the planning phase for the Greco-Persian Wars, for the invasion of Greece.

This is now three years in. Uh, Xerxes has had some early victories down in Egypt to squelch a rebellion there. They're celebrating his victories. They're celebrating... By the way, a party this magnitude takes about three years to get ready for. Uh, and so they're having this sort of come together, which is the result of an e- a successful campaign in Egypt and anticipating and planning what's coming in the next expansion of the kingdom.

So while he showed off his riches, uh, and the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp, you see these piling words, uh, and, and that's just amplifying the magnitude. This is saying he didn't just have a nice house, gang. You know? It, it wa- it was more than a nice car in the, in the garage. And, uh, this, th- this is wealth untold, unheard of, [00:09:00] unseen.

This guy had so much at his disposal. Uh, the pomp of his greatness for many days, 180 in fact. And when these days were completed, the king gave for all the people present in Susa the citadel, which is a raised, fortified section of the city, a w- a walled inner circle as it will, both great and small. So we've got all kinds of people gathering now for a feast lasting for seven days.

So six months of work and/or play, and now seven days of just play. A feast lasting for seven days in the court of the garden of the king's palace. We have an extra-biblical account from Herodotus, who's a Greek historian who tells us about the vast wealth of this Persian king and of the empire. In fact, uh, there's a testimony, uh, uh, let me go back to that for a second.

There's a testimony related to an incident that occurred, uh, during Xerxes' retreat from Greece. Herodotus, being the Greek historian, is [00:10:00] writing down the accounts and recording the history, and what he finds is when the king left his tent in one of the abandoned camps, the soldiers went into the tent, and they found something like this.

Uh, in fact, the Greeks were astounded to find gold and silver couches in the tent, and they asked one another why this rich Persian king would wanna conquer their Greek poverty. In other words, when they saw what Xerxes had, they wondered what else he could want and why in the world he would wanna attack Greece and its poverty from his position of vast wealth and possessions.

It was confusing to them. There were white curtains, uh, cotton curtains and violent hangings fastened with the cords of fine linen and purple to silver rods and marble pillars, and also couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of... How do you say that word? Porphyry, marble, mother of pearl, [00:11:00] and precious stones So clearly the record is saying y- you gotta try to get your mind around the vast wealth of this empire.

And you know what comes with vast wealth, right? Vast power. Power and influence and authority. I mean, this guy has it all. Verse seven says, "Drinks were served in golden vessels, vessels of different kinds, and the royal wine was lavished according to the bounty or the generosity of the king." So he's wining and dining.

"And drinking was according to this edict. There is no compulsion, whatever you wanna do, for the king had given orders to all the staff of his palace to do as each man desired." So this is a full-on party, and they are going at it. As much as you want of the finest of everything at your disposal. Hold nothing back.[00:12:00]

Give everyone whatever they want. This is a seven-day banquet and feast. So you can imagine how this is gonna go, right? Uh, what, what, what's gonna happen? A little too much? A lot too much? And, and by the way, almost parenthetically, verse eight tells us, "Queen Vashti also gave a feast for the women in the palace that belonged to King Ahasuerus, Xerxes."

So how does this work in this culture and in this day and time? The women are not prohibited from the gathering of, of men. Th- they're not excluded from the entirety of this seven-day feast. But how it typically might work is as time goes on and the days pass and the wine continues to pour and the men continue to drink, things get a little more and more and more and more crazy.

So at some point, the gentle ladies are going to excuse themselves [00:13:00] and go and have themselves something that's probably a little more domestic, a little more docile. In other words, without thousands of drunk men. Sorry, but that's what we're dealing with. So this is not something that's an alternative to the gathering.

This is something that comes a little bit later. Now, so that you'll understand sort of the context, what happens next is when the gentle ladies leave the party, they are replaced by not so gentle ladies.

This is going downhill fast. I'm just tell-- This is the problem. Somebody needs to hit the brakes here, but not yet. This is gonna go over the edge here because when the gentle ladies leave, others take their place. You with me? Now, Queen Vashti gave a feast for the women in the palace that belonged to the king.

So Queen Vashti is gathered with her gals, and [00:14:00] there they've retired and likely replaced. So that's the context and that's the backstory, the backdrop. Let's go a little deeper now into the actual encounter that we'll focus on for the rest. Esther 1:10. "On the seventh day," so we-- how long we've been doing this, guys?

Six full days have passed. It's the seventh day. No big deal. It's Persia. This is not Israel. They are not Jewish. It's just the seventh day, and what seventh means is they are completely... What's the word I'm looking for?

Sorry I'm smiling. I'm, I'm just trying to say the right things in a Baptist context, okay? Give me a break. Give me a break. Give me a break. "On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine," that's another way of saying he was smashed. He was wasted. "He commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar [00:15:00] and Carcas" How'd you like to have seven kids with those names?

"They were seven eunuchs who served in the presence of the king, to bring... He gave a command to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown." You know, like, "Honey, come to the party. Be sure to bring your crown." Maybe it's as simple as that. "Be sure to wear your hat, honey, when, when you come over for the guys."

Uh, uh, with your royal... In order to show the peoples... Who's at the party on day seven? A bunch of drunk men. To show the peoples and the princes her beauty. Vashti, beauty, beautiful woman, sweetheart, for she was lovely to look at. She was lovely. So this is an invitation/drunken command from not only a husband to his wife, in that [00:16:00] culture and context, no small thing, but he's the king as well as her husband, and he's King Xerxes, who is an absolute violent individual.

Says, "Go get my wife, the queen. Bring her in here. I wanna show her off. I want everybody to see my trophy wife," if you will. And she was lovely, after all, so why not invite her in? "Bring her over. Let everybody get a good look at my beautiful, lovely wife, Vashti." So what's the problem? Well, you probably already figured out what the problem is.

In Jewish tradition, in some teachings, uh, they would insert parenthetically the word only before crown. Bring the queen, and be sure that she is wearing, parenthetically, only her crown, introducing the [00:17:00] idea of nakedness, that she's to be brought before these drunken men naked. That's the problem. Now, it doesn't have to be that to still be a problem, you understand, but if that's what's going on, it's a serious problem for her and ultimately for him.

And the ra- the rabbis taught, in the Targum we find records that, that this was indeed what was happening. So this is a command disguised as a request that she shame herself, that she reveal herself in a non-, uh, respectful way, and to appear naked in public. That, that's a problem. Hello? Ladies, can I ask, would that be a problem?

Yes. Uh, just... Let guys, would that be a problem? Yes. That... This is a problem. Say it with me, Houston. We got a problem. We got a problem. That's the problem. I mean, inviting the queen or your wife to, to, to the banquet, no problem. Inviting her to, to come in and say hello to the guys, you know, make an [00:18:00] appearance, give a greeting, not a problem, except that they're all seven days smashed, and there is the inclination or the indication here that he might be wanting to show off a little more of her than her pretty face, so that's the problem.

And I think there's fair- thought there. I think that's a fair way to, to approach this. So this then becomes beneath her as a person. This is beneath her dignity as a woman, whatever dignity she enjoyed and had, but as the queen, it's certainly below her. I mean, she's the queen of Persia. That's a big deal.

The problem is, is he's the bigger deal and he gets what he wants, right? Hmm, maybe. Except we read in verse 12, "But Queen Vashti refused to come." No way. No thank you. Not gonna do it, she says. She refuses to come at the king's [00:19:00] command. So this is not a gentle request, "Hey, if you feel like it, if you got time, if you wouldn't mind, come on over and say hello to the guys."

No, this is a command from the king of the Medo-Persian Empire, Xerxes, who says, "Come," and she says, "Yeah, I'm busy. I'm with the girls. We're having our own soiree. I'm not coming," she says. At this, the king became enraged, and his anger burned, burned within him. And, you know, if you're trying to, to think about that, the, it's possible to understand why he would be enraged and why his anger would burn.

He's just been embarrassed or shamed in front of Persians' high society. His military leaders and commanders, his political leaders, they, they're all hearing this, overseeing, watching, going, "Oh, the king is bringing in his wife. How nice." What? [00:20:00] She said what? To whom? So now the king, of course, is center stage, and his rage is burning, and he is so angry.

He is so angry. Can you imagine a husband a little upset? Of course, you know this is gonna require an immediate and severe response. This act of rebellion or disobedience cannot be left... It must not go unpunished. Something has to be done. After all, the queen is setting an example for the whole empire.

Every wife of every high-ranking official in that banquet is watching and listening to see what will happen, and so are their husbands. They're rather concerned because if the queen can do this to the king- What can my wife say and do to me? So there's a consultation. The king said to the wise men who knew the times, knew the times, interesting, for this was the king's procedure toward [00:21:00] all who were versed in law and judgment.

It's interesting. The men next to him being, here we go with some more names, Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, his advisors, who saw the king's face and sat first in the kingdom, meaning they had full access. They saw his face. They were face to face.

These were the closest he had in his kingdom. These are the ones he turned to. Now, just parenthetically, wouldn't it have been a good idea to have this conversation before the command invitation was given? The, the... I mean, just saying, sometimes it's a good idea to ask the question before. Hey, hey, what would happen if I do this and she says, "No way"?

But that would never have occurred to him or them, that it would have never crossed their mind, oh, probably shouldn't bother the queen. She might say no. [00:22:00] I mean, it was so unthought of, unheard of, undone of. She'd never done this, it would appear. So now he's gotta have a conversation and get some wisdom.

According to the law, verse 15, what is to be done to Queen Vashti? Because she has not performed the command of the king delivered by the eunuchs. She said no, direct disobedience, abject disrespect. What's to be done? Then Memucan said in the presence of the king and of the officials, "Well, now that you mention it, since you bring it up, not only against the king has Queen Vashti done wrong, but also against the, all of the officials and all of the peoples who are in all of the provinces of King Xerxes, for the queen's behavior will be made known to all women, causing them to look at their husbands with contempt," because that's how she looked at Xerxes, [00:23:00] "since they will say, 'King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not obey.'"

She didn't. "So this very day, the noble women of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen's behavior will say the same to all the king's officials, and there will be contempt and wrath in plenty." So this is the situation. The king says, "Come to the party." She says, "No, thanks." The guys get together and say, "We got a problem.

What are we gonna do about this? 'Cause this isn't gonna stay a secret. Everybody's gonna know, and if every woman follows her lead, then every woman's gonna respond to her husband in the way yours has responded to you. We gotta do something here. We need a second example. The first was rebellion and disobedience.

We've gotta punish such rebellion and disobedience so that nobody else follows her example or this pattern of [00:24:00] disobedience." "So if it pleases the king," verse 19, "let a royal order go out from him and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it may not be repealed." Pour concrete on this one, guys.

Because by the way, one thing we know about Xerxes is he was impulsive, and he was given to make rash decisions and change his mind, and they know that about their king, and so they're saying, "Let's put down something here that's unchangeable." that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus, and that the king give her royal position to another who is better than she.

So Vashti is at least deposed, we know that. We don't know if she was taken out, killed. It's very possible. He could certainly have, have given a, a, a decision of death, and, and she may have, we don't know. But she was certainly deposed, which means she lost [00:25:00] everything, removed as queen, taken off her throne, taken out of her house, and removed of...

stripped of all power a-and all privilege. She's banished in the least a-and maybe even, even put to death. A-and of course, very clearly, she's lost her access to the king, and to the throne room, and to power, and to influence. She's lost it all

Do you think she thought through this before she said no and understood the likely response of the king? Come on, ladies. Yes. Yes. I think she did. I mean, she's married to the guy. Certainly she knows how he's gonna respond So did she know this was coming?

In all likelihood, she knew what was happening. She knew the score. She knew it was ahead. Why'd she do it? Hold [00:26:00] that thought. I intend to maybe provide a bit of an answer to that. But I, I, I think it's interesting, notice this text, uh, "Replace her in her royal position to another. Give it to someone else who is better than she."

Now, if we were really, uh, looking deep into this, we would wanna know what better means, right? We wanna know what, what it means, better. I'm sure that King Xerxes heard what was intended in, in better obedient , more in line with, more agreeable, less likely to rebel. I mean, better is that to, to them. But if you think about it, what we've already seen in Queen Vashti is, well, dignity and self-respect.

And, and what we see is the respect of others. You say, "Well, there wasn't a man in the house that respected her." I don't know about that, [00:27:00] but I know his wife respected Vashti quietly , maybe even secretly. But she had the respect of others, and here we are all these centuries later talking about her and telling her story, so she has her place in history.

She may have lost everything But not everything In fact, in history, she's preparing, as it were, the, the way for the person for whom the book is named, Esther. Esther. By the way, hit pause parenthetically, I, I wanna remind you for the sake of this series that there's someone else who was concerned with and affirmed the dignity and self-respect and the respect of others and their place in history.

Do you remember who that was? Jesus. Jesus So Vashti is referred to by Harriet Beecher Stowe in [00:28:00] 1878 as the first, if not one of the first, feminists. Now, now don't shut down over that word. Don't, don't go crazy. Just think about it for a minute. She said no to authority. She said no to the patriarchal system.

She said no to an unreasonable invitation/command that would shame her for the rest of her life. She said no. She stood up upon her convictions. So there's a modern history that looks back to Vashti at least as a symbol or as an example, albeit, I must admit, in a great amount of Jewish and Hebrew teaching, she is not respected.

She's, she, she's not appreciated, and that's another story for another day. But from our perspective, she's certainly an example of someone who stood upon her principles, understanding in all likelihood what the cost of that stance would [00:29:00] be. Still she stood. Let's finish the story, verse twenty, "So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, for it is vast, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike.

This advice pleased the king and the princes, and the king did as Memucan proposed. He sent letters to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language." You want to make clear everybody understands this, "That every man be master in his own household and speak according to the language of his people."

So are we getting this? So she has influenced history. She has changed the way things are done. If from a negative, and the result being negative, you can't take back the input and the influence that she had on history. The real question is, we asked at the beginning, I think is, why begin Esther with Vashti?

It's the Book of Esther. It's about God and His sovereignty and His [00:30:00] providence and His, even if behind the scenes, ability to work out His purposes, Romans eight twenty-eight. He's getting it done. He's pulling the strings. He's making things work together for good to those who love Him. You know the verse.

So why begin Esther with Vashti? I think it's a fair question. Not only is she lesser known, I think this is a lesser-known question of a lesser-known Bible character. So let me throw a few possibilities up. Perhaps it's just simply to explain why there was an empty seat next to Xerxes when Esther comes on the scene.

All in favor, say, let me see a hand. It's-- That's it. It's just that shallow. It's that simple. That's all there is. No? Okay. Let me try another. Not only was it to explain why there was an empty seat, perhaps it explains the culture and the context in which we find Esther, which is no small thing. Because remember what Esther's gonna have to do.

She's not lesser known. You know what she has to do, right? She has to [00:31:00] go where she was prohibited. She needs an audience with the king, and the result of passing that barrier, unless you're invited, is death. So while Vashai didn't go where she was commanded to go, Esther's gonna have to go where she was commanded not to go.

Same king, same royal household, same rules, now laid down pretty clearly by the king himself as a decree to twenty-- hundred and twenty-seven provinces. So maybe it's to explain the culture and the context, and I'll just add one more. Uh, perhaps it's to serve as an example of the courage to act on her convictions, which Esther will have to do Vashti to save her dignity and her self-respect, Esther to save her people, the Jews Combination of all three?

Perhaps. But you can't [00:32:00] dismiss chapter one. I read some commentaries and some responses to online discussions, and it just was really interesting to me how many people said, "Why are we even talking about Vashti? It's the Book of Esther. We should be talking about Esther." Except that chapter one doesn't at all So if the whole Book of Esther is about the sovereignty and the providence of God in working out his purposes in human history, wouldn't you want to know why he put Vashti in chapter one of the Book of Esther?

I mean, isn't that a fair question? And I don't know very, uh, many other times that we just disregard an entire chapter of a book of the Bible because it's not the one the book is named for. I think we've got to really dig into this. I, I'm not here with all the answers. Maybe more questions than I have answers, if that's fair But I do think it gives us something to think about for our roadmap and our points for home.

As you know, we always like to have something to [00:33:00] take away, something to think about, and some resulting action to that thought process. So let me identify a few. We'll spend our remaining time right here. First of all, I think we see in the story of Ashtar the importance of identifying our core convictions.

So you know the old saying, if you don't stand for something... Finish the sentence. You'll fall for anything. So have you ever had a thought, sat down to process, maybe even put some things in writing? What are your core convictions What are those irreducible minimums in your world? And let's put that into context of life.

Could be at home and with family, could be in a marriage, could be on the job at work, could be in school. I mean, what are those things that you stand for that you could identify as [00:34:00] core convictions? In the business world and in church world, we take these long exercises, and we go away, and we spend some time really praying and digging down because we really wanna know where we stand and on what we stand.

What are our core convictions? What are those non-compromising concepts? And, and have we ever, as individuals, done what corporations do and churches and all sorts of organizations do? Have we e- have we ever just identified our core convictions? Do you know what they are? Well, I wanna encourage you to, to give that some thought.

M-maybe you'll have a little extra time on your hands this week, and, and you, and you can just say, "What, what are the things that matter to me most?" I mean, throughout history as a nation, you heard our Oleg say earlier, Pastor Oleg, uh, freedom is the core conviction to the degree that m- both men and women have been willing to go to war and lay down their [00:35:00] lives, die r- rather than settle for or compromise on the core conviction of these are inalienable rights to be free.

That's a core conviction of, of our country, right? I know what some of you are thinking. "Yeah, I'm not so sure anymore." It's there. Don't poke the bear Freedom. Think of a few others that are core convictions, core convictions as Christians. So there are some things in the Bible that I'm unclear on, I, I, I just...

I'm not sure on. I don't... You know, we've just been through this entire wonderful long series on end times and the Book of Revelation, and I gotta be honest with you, I've looked at this with different eyes this time. And I'm gonna be honest with you, I've come away with some different conclusions, which isn't all that surprising, [00:36:00] because we're always learning, right?

We should be. And I've said a few times, I wish I had gone through this process 20 years ago. I would've preached the last two series on end times at Champion Forest Baptist Church a little differently, and now you're dying to know what I'm talking about. Where has he gone liberal? Where has he lost his marbles?

I... But, but here's the point I'm trying to make. Does it really matter if Jesus is coming again? Amen. And in the end he wins. Yes. So that's the core conviction. The schedule is up to him. So I have opinions and, and ideas, and to be honest, I've got preferences. I don't wanna stay down here seven years of the worst years in the history of the world, do you?

No. I mean, I want there to be a rapture, and I want it to be at the beginning, not the middle or the end. Those are my preferences. And I [00:37:00] have an opinion on that, too, that Mark and I may not agree on every little piece and part, which he has told you several times. But let me tell you something. You can say whatever you wanna say about the process, the timing, the order of events, the sequence, and I'm gonna say, "You know what?

That's interesting. I, I bet you can support that biblically and thoughtfully and prayerfully." But if you say Jesus has abandoned us and he's never coming again, you will get a response. You're wrong. I'll never compromise on that. That's a core conviction. Any others come to mind? Well, I'm gonna challenge you this week as a, as a point for home to consider your core convictions and be sure that you have some, because n-next week at work or the week after or in the neighborhood or at school, you may be presented with an opportunity to ignore the fact that you had [00:38:00] core convictions and to compromise what you believe and who you are and where you stand.

You, you may get that opportunity, so you gotta know where you stand. It should be based on who you are in Christ, and it should be based on what He has said to us in His Word. That, that, that helps us form our core convictions. So Vashti had core convictions That when faced with the worst possible circumstance and consequence, she said, "No, no Which leads me to our second point for home You're gonna need some courage if you find some core convictions because i-if you don't have courage, then you don't have core convictions.

You just have opinions or suspicions or preferences. But a core conviction, by its very nature, demands a courageous stand, meaning like Vashti, you have to at least in your mind know that [00:39:00] this core conviction, if I'm pushed or challenged, could cost something. There could be some result of this acting out in my core conviction.

There could be some expense to this. So you've gotta have, along with your core conviction, the courage to stand. In Vashti's case, she just simply says no. And I'm sure she's got advisors. Don't you think she had advisors? She had a circle of friends at least who were overhearing this whole conversation when the messengers, the eunuchs come in and say, "Hey, the king's called for you to be wearing your crown," however you wanna take that And she, for a moment, has to think through what to do.

And surely there's a friend, if you can call her a friend, that says, "Oh, just go on and do it. What's the big deal?" And another who says, "Yeah, 'cause he's the king and he's [00:40:00] ruthless." And another who says, "Honey, if you don't do it, you're a goner." And they're all right in the sense

But what does she have to summon? What does she need? If in fact those are core convictions, she needs the courage to say no. Now, I, I hope there was another or two, male or female, don't know, in her circle that says, "You're doing the right thing." It's important to have those kind of people around us too, right?

I mean, I don't, I don't know how much power, influence, or authority you have, but if everybody around you makes a habit of saying yes to you no matter what, you need better friends You gotta have some people in your life that, that, that are saying, "What?" I mean s- somebody that you let close enough to you to be able to speak truth to you, even if it's an inconvenient truth or an uncomfortable truth.

And in this case, she might have had someone in her circle who would have said to her, [00:41:00] "Vashti, this is bad, and I am so sorry that you've been put in this position. But in this moment, remember who you are. Remember where you stand and what you believe, and those core convictions that make you who you are.

And Vashti or Bob or Sue, this is your moment to stand."

That's not an easy thing to do It takes courage

You say, "I don't have that kind of courage." I got good news for you. If you believe in Jesus and you've been born again, then the Holy Spirit of God will encourage you. Amen. If you don't have strength and you lack the willpower, say, "Lord, honestly, my knees are shaking, [00:42:00] and I'm water within. I'm melting under this pressure.

If this is the right decision and this is the right thing to do, then give me the courage to stand." Can I ask you how many martyrs in the history of the, the church

Didn't feel a little weak in that moment when they had to choose whether to stand or sit down?

And I guess some of them had innate courage, but I bet most of them said, "Dear Lord, help me." Said, "I know this is the right thing to do, and I cannot do this on my own. Empower me, embolden me, encourage me. I lack courage." So I can tell you where to go for courage. Go to the encourager

And on that note, the final point for home will be this, just be confident [00:43:00] in God's plan. 'Cause you know Esther is about God's plan. It's about God's purposes. It's about the sovereignty and the providence of God. So what does that mean? That in Vashti's story, God is working. Because Vashti's story really isn't Vashti's story, it's God's story, and He is telling His story and writing His story in her life, through her life, and beyond her life.

Same with Esther. It's not Esther's story. It's named, the book named Esther, but it's God's story, isn't it? And you know, our human-centered way of thinking, which we get when we're about his age, and unfortunately stays with us throughout the rest of our life, and we always have to sort of remind it, it's the three, four, three-year-old me, not, not the me, me, that it's not about me[00:44:00]

That's never been my story I mean, if you get in line here with the teachings of this book and the whole of God's book, the Bible, you'll come to understand that God has a grand meta-narrative. He's telling a great story. He's telling the story of redemption and of His sovereign power and might, in spite of all the little things we do to try to mess that up, to work out His plans and purposes according to His will, no matter So when you and I get caught in these skirmishes or in these moments, we have the sense of thinking this is about me.

I mean, when you're injured, right? It's hard to be humane and helpful to your neighbors when you're hurting, right? What do hurting people do? They tend to hurt others because they're, they themselves are hurt, and so they're lashing out. So there's that natural response to change or pain that makes us turn inward and think about ourselves [00:45:00] But in this context, it's the last thing we wanna do, 'cause what we wanna understand is this is not about me.

It's not my story. I'm a part of a greater story. God is writing a story in my life and using me as a part of His story, His story. So that means that regardless of what happens to me in this moment, all right? What are we talking about? Core convictions with the courage to stand and the confidence that no matter what, God's will be done.

Can you think of a decent example of where you see that in scripture? Hmm. Can you think about a situation where core convictions could be compromised, where confidence could be lost? Can you think of anybody in all of scripture Oh, I got one Go with me to the Garden of Gethsemane

When [00:46:00] Jesus has been laying down those core convictions of the kingdom for three and a half years, and he's got it all right, and he's done nothing wrong, and he is not deserving of what's in his future, he's gonna get a raw deal

Who wants that?

And even though it's the right thing because he's taking the sin of the world upon himself, it still stinks. Really? I mean, why, why does the scripture tells us that he was sweating as if drops of blood? I mean, he's coming apart in this moment. He's melting in this moment. Can I? Should I? Why would I stand?

What are these core convictions in this moment? And even if they are core convictions that should be stood upon, how can I stand? "Father, let this cup..." What cup? The cup of God's wrath, [00:47:00] the cup of suffering, the cup of sin and the iniquity of us all. All this is about to be poured out on him in full measure, and he says, "Could I not?"

Isn't there some other way? Does it have to be this? The most important part of the story is this next statement, "Nevertheless." It's not about me Never has been. It's not my story It's his story So nevertheless, not my will, your will be done. And knowing his place in part in this great story, this grand meta-narrative, Jesus went to the cross and suffered and died and was buried And it was over, done, finished, [00:48:00] end of Jesus' story on Friday

But you know why we love Sunday so much, don't you? 'Cause the end of Jesus' story as we were reading it at the time was not the end of God's story as he was telling it at the time, 'cause on the third day, he rose

So you and I may face some crosses and some dark nights of the soul and some difficult decisions. At home, marriage, the kids, the parents, the school, at work, in the neighborhood. We come to those moments where our core convictions are tested, and we have to go to the Lord for the courage to stand knowing that come what may, this is the right stand, and if I fall on this hill, God's will be done

Let's pray[00:49:00]

And so Father, as we think about this example, this lesser-known woman of the Bible, she teaches us all something about courage and conviction. And we don't have all the answers or understand all the details, but we know she's there for a reason, and this book begins with her story as a part of a greater story, bigger picture.

So when we find ourselves in that moment, uh, help us to think in this way. And I pray specifically that each of us will take some time to consider what are those things that are in fact hills, if necessary, to die on. In times of shifting sand and changing opinions and the compromising of convictions long held deeply, Lord, help us find the place and the point at which we stand.

Give us the courage to stand by your Holy Spirit [00:50:00] and remind us always, Lord, that this is your story that's being told, and you're not a part of our story. We are a part of yours, and what a blessing that is to know. So encourage us with that today, and we thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen.