Such A Time as This

1. Such A Time as This Esther 4:12-14

2. Such A Time as This What do Bill Gates, Howard Hughes and Madame Chiang Kai Shek have in common? Answer: THEY ARE ALL PERSONS OF THEIR TIMES!! Why?

3. Such 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 AND CATCH THE TIDAL WAVES!!

4. Such 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.

5. Such A Time as This – Esther Discerns 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)

6. Such A Time as This – Esther Discerns Such A Time The transition Esther was brought to the palace (2:17) Persian king Xerxes loved Esther (2:17b) Esther was CHOSEN AS THE QUEEN (2:18) Chapter 2 Mordecai discovered a conspiracy and was honored by the king (2:19-23) 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) Chapter 3

7. Such A Time as This – Esther Discerns Such A Time • Two questions: • One: Why did Mordecai not kneel down to Haman? • Two: Why did Haman want to conspire to kill Mordecai 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!!

8. Such A Time as This – Esther Discerns Such A Time • Let’s imagine for a moment: what would you and I have done if we were Mordecai?  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) Faithfulness Extermination

9. Such A Time as This – Esther Discerns Such A Time The interaction 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) • 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 commercial 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.

10. Such A Time as This – Esther Discerns Such A Time The Lone Ranger ESTHER WAS IN CONSTANT INTERACTION WITH MORDECAI!!! BEING A LONGER NEVER WORKS!!!

11. Such A Time as This – Esther Catches the Waves • 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 ＝

12. Such A Time as This – Esther Catches the Waves • 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 … The extermination of her people!!!

13. Such A Time as This – Esther Catches the Waves The great “If … then …” • What if • Bill Gates had not created Windows? • Howard Hughes had not owned over 51% of TWA shares? • What if Madame Chiang Kai Shek had not spoken at the U.S. Congress? • … • How would we feel if we were faced with such a huge challenge as Esther did?

14. Such A Time as This – Esther Catches the Waves We don’t have time to argue about time! • Hebrew concept of time: עֵת＋ event (pronounced “ate”) • Verse 14, “… who KNOWS but that you …” • יוֹדֵעַ : the word is used in Gen 4:1, “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!!

15. Such A Time as This – Esther Catches the Waves • 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!!

16. Such A Time as This • 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? What legacies would we like to have?