ASSEMBLY FEATURES IN ESTHER
J. McKay
Esther 2: 5–7, 15; 3: 1, 2; 4: 1, 2, 13–17; 8: 1, 2
I would like to say a word, dear brethren, as the Lord may help, as to the relationship which develops in this book between Mordecai and Esther. The book itself is an interesting one, finding its place in the holy writings, and yet, as we have often been reminded, the name of God is not mentioned in it, and prayer is not mentioned in it. But there are certain features developed which, under the hand of the Spirit of God, are intended to impress us with the qualities that are to mark the saints in a day of darkness, a day when God is not acknowledging formally His relationship with His people, when there is no public intervention on their behalf, but when heaven’s initiative is very clearly to be seen in making room for the qualities which heaven approves and which heaven vindicates.
The background is one of dislocated relations. The rejection of Vashti, who did not acknowledge the claim of king Ahasuerus, reminds us of what is only too prevalent around, where the creatorial relationship between the man and the woman is largely becoming disregarded, something about which we do well to be alerted. I do not dwell on that, save to emphasize that God has set man
in man’s place and woman in woman’s place. Vashti got out of her place and she is removed from being queen. This makes way, in the skill of the Spirit of God, for the bringing into view of another in Esther. It has often been said that we have in this book the removal of the first and the establishment of the second in relation to the assembly. I believe that we should be alert to the emergence among us in the testimony of assembly qualities. We have been considering earlier the servant taking that long journey to secure a bride for Isaac. He was by the well, alert, speaking in his heart, his affections active in relation to the features that would come to light which were fully in keeping with the mind of heaven.
Mordecai really represents the spirit of Christ. I believe we need a Mordecai in every one of our localities. Esther became queen, she became influential in the whole realm, but the first person to appreciate Esther’s qualities was Mordecai. Dear brother or sister, there is need that you should watch in your locality for the emergence of subjective features that are proper to the assembly. Esther, it says, “had neither father nor mother”; she is cut off from natural resource, and thus Mordecai accepts responsibility for her. What a touch that is! We need to accept responsibility for the virgin qualities proper to the work of God which may be coming to light in our localities. Thank God for the number of young persons here today. Watch over them! Look for what may show itself in the way of virgin affection for Christ, and see that that is nourished, see that it is developed, see, that it is protected. It says, “Mordecai took her for his own daughter”. He was committing himself, you might say, to see that this feature, so precious under his discerning eye, should not be damaged but should be preserved
for whatever purpose God might intend in the testimony.
Satan is very active to damage persons so that they should not be available in God’s testimony. He would attempt through one means and another to divert your attention by what is earthly, by what is worldly, by what comes from beneath instead of what comes from above. He would spoil you, giving you a taste for what is adverse, instead of your being preserved in an environment where you can be used and where you can develop normally in relation to the things of God. What we should look for is normal growth. It says, “Mordecai walked every day before the court … to know how Esther did”, Esther 2: 11. That is, he committed himself; he felt responsible for her, and he was very concerned as to what was developing in her.
So the time comes when she is to go in to the king. It says, “when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s chamberlain, keeper of the women, appointed”. I think the link between the Spirit in type and this assembly quality is most instructive. We have spoken of Rebecca, herself a personality. Esther became a personality in her own right and she required nothing additional. She was entirely in subjection to what was provided for her, in figure, by the Spirit. Another has said that dependence is a feature of moral kindredship with Christ, and I am sure that is true. She was entirely dependent on what was provided for her by the Spirit. Hegai is a type of the Spirit of God, linking on with Mordecai and furnishing all that was needed, so that when the time came Esther was accepted; “she obtained grace in the
sight of all them that saw her”. It is wonderful when you see features which have been nourished, treasured, and nurtured according to God develop and become wider in their influence as God makes room for them in His ways in the testimony.
Esther 3 brings out another important point. The king promotes “Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite”. We should be aware, dear brethren, that the enemy is always against what is giving pleasure to heaven. If something has been developing and has come to maturity and is now accepting responsibility in relation to the testimony. Satan is against that. His attack is incessant. He does not give up, but comes back again and again. So the king promotes Haman and the consequence is that men are to bow to him. “All the king’s servants that were in the king’s gate bowed and did Haman reverence”. A principle is introduced to which persons are expected to bow. Then it says, “Mordecai bowed not”.
I am going to appeal, dear brethren, for moral integrity in those who accept responsibility in our localities. A principle is brought in, an Amalekitish principle, and “Mordecai bowed not”. Why do you think that was? The history of the Amalekite in Scripture goes right back to Rephidim. The Amalekite was against the testimony of God. He is not a foe dealt with just once, it is a recurring conflict. The Amalekite attack happens over and over again, as with the Philistines who represent another principle which seems to assert itself time and time again, asserting themselves in the book of Judges, utterly defeated under Samson, yet when you come to David’s day they are spreading themselves over the land (2 Samuel 5: 18, 22). So Satan is unrelenting, but he has certain known lines of attack. This is one of them, the Amalekite.
He is not only against the testimony, but he is against God. We learn in Exodus that his hand is on the throne of Jah (Exodus 17: 16), showing how Satan would challenge the supremacy of God in relation to what is precious to Him.
So it says that “Mordecai bowed not”. O, dear brethren, can I appeal for faithfulness, for a knowledge of what has gone before in the testimony, and for strength and courage to resist what would overthrow what is precious to Christ. Saul was instructed to deal with the Amalekite but it says he spared the best (1 Samuel 15: 9). He was selective, he did not carry the thing through to its right conclusion according to God. Jehovah having “war with Amalek from generation to generation”, Exodus 17: 16. So Agag comes to Samuel and says, “Surely the bitterness of death is past”, 1 Samuel 15: 32. He came gaily. Amalek will put on a big display; man in the flesh is always able to do that. But it says, “Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before Jehovah”. Oh let us be true, dear brethren, in our localities to conflicts that have been fought and won. The enemy is always asserting himself, but the Spirit of Christ is here seen in Mordecai; it says he “bowed not”. Thank God for what is amongst us that is not prepared to bow to an Amalekite principle.
This results in the testimony being brought into suffering. Mordecai in the beginning of Esther 4 “put on sackcloth with ashes and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and bitter cry”. The reproach of Christ is to be accepted. If we are to be true to these beautiful assembly features, if they are to be protected, if they are to be preserved, if they are to become influential as God intends they should be, we need to accept the position of
reproach. Mordecai gives a lead. The principle of leadership was never more needed amongst us. It has been abused; we have spoken of it in a way which was unwise, and Satan has exploited it; but the principle of leadership remains—not the sort of leadership that would assert its own right over the saints, but the leadership that in devotion to Christ simply goes before, goes before in the acceptance of the obligations, the burdens, the sufferings, of the testimony. This is the kind of leadership that God will support, and it is seen in Mordecai. He kept himself first—he did not bow to the Amalekite, and then he is used. His moral influence extends to the whole area that is around him as he accepts the position of suffering.
Esther is not at first equal to this. We need to be patient with one another, dear brethren. All may not see the issue as clearly as you do; all may not be ready at the first onset to commit themselves fully to the position of suffering. Mordecai goes on and Esther is brought round. She seeks to soften the position, even as Peter, drawing alongside the Lord said, “This shall in no wise be unto thee” (Matthew 16: 22), seeking to soften the severity of the suffering into which the Lord Himself was moving. So Esther would seek to modify, to remove the sackcloth, to say, ‘Well, there is no need for a position of public reproach’. Do you remember that as the children of Israel went out of Egypt it says they “went out ... in the sight of all the Egyptians”, Numbers 33: 3. It was a public matter; it was not a secret matter; it was seen that they had gone out. Mr. Taylor said that if we are not publicly out of the world, we are not out of it rightly (N.S. Vol. 13, p.169). We are to be committed to a position of reproach.
So Mordecai remains true and Esther is brought
round, until at the end of Esther 4 her language is beautiful. Mordecai having spoken to her and exhorted her, she says, “Go, gather together all the Jews that are found in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day—I also and my maidens will fast likewise, and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish”. What a committal! What language! This feature of the assembly is now seen not simply as able to answer to the affections of the king, but as equal to the acceptance of her place sufferingly in the testimony of God. Oh that these things should be more worked out in our localities! “If I perish, I perish”—an irrevocable committal. She is out and out, she is committing herself fully now to the testimony of God. The influence of Mordecai is such that she is now completely devoted to what God is doing, prepared, as was Moses of old, “rather to suffer affliction along with the people of God than to have the temporary pleasure of sin”, Hebrews 11: 25. God will answer this. He answers committal to His rights. Mordecai stood for them—Esther comes under his influence and God answers it, so that the position is turned in her favour and the king holds out to Esther the golden sceptre. God is acting, you see. I think we should have the assurance that in spite of God not being mentioned in this book the initiative of heaven was never more realised by those that are true.
So the golden sceptre is held out to Esther and the word is, “What wilt thou, queen Esther?” (Esther 5: 3). Notice, “queen Esther”, a royal touch. The name Esther means a star and connects with what we have been saying today as to personality that is heavenly. She is now in a position where she can dictate her own terms; she has the initiative. What was against the people of God
had seemed to have the initiative but now, through this beautiful committal, the initiative has passed; Esther has it and the question is, “What wilt thou?”. It is a wonderful day when we realise in our localities that the assembly has the initiative. God would see that it is so—not simply a particular person, not simply leadership, right in its place, but that the assembly has the initiative. Esther is going to use it now. Certain things are active against the testimony of God. Having a clear judgment of them she is now going to use the initiative that God has given her.
One feature of the assembly is the exercise of wisdom in matters of administration, a feature much needed. So Esther waits for two days. She calls a feast on the first day and then she calls another feast on another day. The initiative is held; power is there. You might say that executive action could have been taken on the first day, but Esther waits. What instances there are in Scripture of the wisdom in waiting. In the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram Moses says, “Be thou and all thy band before Jehovah ... tomorrow” and again, “Even tomorrow will Jehovah make known who is his”, Numbers 16: 16, 5. This shows the ability to wait. Let us not be hasty, dear brethren, let us rather represent heaven in what we do, aware that the initiative is in the assembly and can be trusted there.
The waiting time historically according to this record results in Mordecai’s influence being extended as “the man whom the king delights to honour”. The waiting time is turned to advantage, so that when the moment comes everything is in Esther’s favour. Haman, the Jew’s enemy, the great representative of Satan as against the testimony of God, is exposed fully and the matter is completely dealt with.
I would appeal then for the development of these assembly qualities, on the one hand what will answer to the affections of the Man; qualities also that will commit themselves fully in relation to the sufferings of the testimony. And then the wisdom that can wait, knowing what it is to make room for God in matters and which, although having a clear judgment of what needs to be dealt with, can defer until the right moment arrives and the position is absolutely clear. These things are very testing, they are very real, and I believe the Lord would help us to see how they apply to situations which may arise in our localities.
I read the beginning of Esther 8 because all this time the link between Mordecai and Esther had been secret. It was there in a very real sense, treasured, used by Mordecai to influence the queen, but secret. Now in chapter 8 it says, “Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was to her”. Oh what a touch, dear brethren! We think of Esther as representing the assembly, and Mordecai as representing the spirit of Christ. Esther had told what Mordecai was to her. What Christ is to the assembly is now coming fully into view. What will come into view at the end is what the assembly is to Christ. The word to Philadelphia is, they “shall know that I have loved thee”, Revelation 3: 9. What stimulation it gives to us, for a day is soon to come when they shall know. We know it now, but they shall know that “I have loved thee”. Let this be answered in a fresh committal on our side. He is true to us; let us be true to Him. Let us make it known what Mordecai is to us, what Christ is to the assembly.
I commend these things to us, dear brethren, to our interest, to our consciences, and our hearts, for God wants to get not only your mind, but your
vitals, and He wants you to be committed to these things, in the place which He has given to you in the testimony—a place to be valued, a place to be treasured, a place to be protected above all else in a day of such darkness.
Address at Redbridge
8 November 1975