Acceptance, Banquets, Hanging, and Grace

Esther 5:1-14

    1 Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, across from the king's house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house. 2 So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter.

    3 And the king said to her, "What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you—up to half the kingdom!"

    4 So Esther answered, "If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him."

    5 Then the king said, "Bring Haman quickly, that he may do as Esther has said." So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

    6 At the banquet of wine the king said to Esther, "What is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your request, up to half the kingdom? It shall be done!"

    7 Then Esther answered and said, "My petition and request is this: 8 If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, then let the king and Haman come to the banquet which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said."

   9 So Haman went out that day joyful and with a glad heart; but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, and that he did not stand or tremble before him, he was filled with indignation against Mordecai. 10 Nevertheless Haman restrained himself and went home, and he sent and called for his friends and his wife Zeresh. 11 Then Haman told them of his great riches, the multitude of his children, everything in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and servants of the king.

    12 Moreover Haman said, "Besides, Queen Esther invited no one but me to come in with the king to the banquet that she prepared; and tomorrow I am again invited by her, along with the king. 13 Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate."

    14 Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, "Let a gallows be made, fifty cubits high, and in the morning suggest to the king that Mordecai be hanged on it; then go merrily with the king to the banquet."

    And the thing pleased Haman; so he had the gallows made.

Esther approached her husband the king, facing possible death if not accepted to come near.  The king graciously not only accepted her unannounced approach with the scepter of his golden rule, but invited her to ask him for half his kingdom as well!  Instead, she asked the king to come with Haman to a banquet that she prepared for him.  At that feast, the king asked again what she wanted, and Esther wanted them to come again the following day.  She asked in humility, making it clear her request was based on the king’s favor, his good grace.  Haman was drawn in by his pride with misdirected joy, and with indignant wrath against Mordecai when he saw him again in the king’s gate, unwilling to bow or subjugate himself to Haman.  Haman went home and prepared a gallows after first inflating himself to think that he was being honored by the king in these feasts from the invitations.  He thought he was exalted above all others except the king in his blind pride of self importance.  But as long as the Jew Mordecai sat in defiance of his ego and ambition, Haman could not be satisfied.  Therefore, he listened to his wife and evil friends to build the gallows and suggest that the king hang the Jew.  Haman was happy, and had the hanging platform made before going to the next banquet.  This is a picture of how we must be invited to the King of kings before dining with Him in eternity.  We cannot come in the illusion of our own goodness or inflated worth, as if we deserved to be called up higher to the King.  Christ made it clear that the Father gives those He calls and draws to His Son, and not that we answer an invitation alone without that acceptance to approach the throne.  Apart from that accepted invitation (Matthew 22:8, Luke 14:24), we are helpless to be rewarded or dine forever with Him (Ephesians 1:6, John 6:37, 44, 65, Revelation 3:20).  We learn from this passage how God made Esther acceptable to the king, not by her approach to him, out of grace.  We also see how we do not deserve to be lifted up and rewarded even when circumstances make it appear so at first, just as Haman assumed wrongly in his self inflated pride.  We deserve only justice in a certain judgment apart from the grace of the King of kings, whose scepter of the cross lifted in our direction makes our eternal presence at His table effectual and certain.  Without Jesus Christ, we would hang in a sense, suffering justly for our rebellious cunning attempts to justify our place with our Lord.  We cannot earn or deserve heaven with the King on our own merits.  This is God’s grace in the gospel!