For Such a Time as This

More and more often in recent days we hear the phrase ‘for such a time as this’ in Christian circles, as the world continues to spin out of control with the recession, unemployment and natural disasters like the recent fires in BC, California and Greece, and the monsoon floods in Asia. There is no doubt we have much to pray about.

This phrase comes to us from the story of Esther in the book of that name in the Bible. Esther was a young Jewish maiden who was being raised by her relative, Mordecai, after the death of the rest of her family.

Esther became the queen of King Ahasuerus of Persia. At Mordecai’s bidding, she had not revealed her Jewish ancestry to the king. At that time there were still many Jews living in the Persian kingdom who had not returned to Jerusalem at the time of Ezra.

Haman, an Agagite, (Agag had been an Amalekite king) was the king’s right-hand man, and people bowed to him and paid him homage; all, that is, except Mordecai. Haman was furious about this, and wanted to destroy not only Mordecai but all the Jews throughout the whole kingdom. Verse 7 of Chapter 3 tells us: In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, the lots), before Haman to determine the day and the month, until it fell on the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

Thus a date was chosen for the elimination of all Jews in the kingdom, and Haman approached the king with his plan, telling the king that the laws and customs of these people were different, and that they don’t keep the king’s laws. A decree was written that they be destroyed, and was sealed with the king’s signet ring, which he gave to Haman. Letters were sent out all through the kingdom to destroy all the Jews.

When Mordecai heard about this he was greatly distressed, and mourned in sackcloth and ashes, even going in front of the king’s gate. Esther’s maids told her of Mordecai at the gate in sackcloth. She called Hatlach, the eunuch who had been appointed to her, to go to Mordecai and find out what was going on. Mordecai told him of Haman’s plan, and gave him a copy of the written decree so that he could show it to Esther.

Mordecai wanted Esther to go to the king and plead for mercy for her people. Hatlach gave Esther the written decree, and also Mordecai’s request. Esther 4:11 tells us that “any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law: put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live.” She also mentioned that she had not been called in to the king for thirty days.

In other words, to go to the king uninvited, she was taking her life in her hands.

In response, Mordecai reminded her that she, too, was Jewish, and not to think that she would escape, any more than any others would. In verse 14 Mordecai says, “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

So Esther called for all the Jews in Shushan to fast from food and drink for three days and three nights, as would her and her maids. Then she would go to the king, adding, “and if I perish, I perish.”

The story has a happy ending. God honoured their prayer and fasting, and saved His people from Haman’s plot. Haman himself was hung on the gallows he had built for Mordecai. The date became a memorial for the Jewish people to celebrate each year – the Feast of Purim – to be celebrated “yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar” (Esther 9:21). This is usually in early March on our calendar.

So what does this have to do with us today?

Esther, as the bride of the king, is a picture of the Church, the Bride of Christ. Although Esther did not at the outset acknowledge her Jewish heritage, so too the Church, for the most part, does not acknowledge her Jewish roots, due to Replacement Theology.

However, Paul makes it very clear in the 11th chapter of the Book of Romans that the roots of the olive tree are Jewish, and finally more and more Christians are coming to realize the Jewish roots of the Church. As such, we, the Church, have a responsibility, just as Esther had in her day, to pray for the Jewish people.

We need to pray that they come to know their Messiah. Unfortunately, through Replacement Theology, which says that the Church has replaced the Jewish people in God’s heart, we have made the Jewish Messiah into a Gentile ‘Christ’, so that the Jewish people are unable to recognize Him as their Messiah. For that, we need to repent.

We need to pray for the protection of the land of Israel – God’s land. We need to gain an understanding of the situation in the Middle East from God’s perspective.

We need to pray for Jewish people all over the world to make aliyah – to move to Israel. In fact, Gentile believers are supposed to help them do so! Isaiah 49:22 tells us:

This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See, I will beckon to the Gentiles,
I will lift up my banner to the peoples;
they will bring your sons in their arms
and carry your daughters on their shoulders.
(NIV)

There are a number of Christian leaders today with the Call of Mordecai on their lives, calling for the Church to pray for Israel and the Jewish people worldwide, just as Mordecai called for Esther to pray for the Jewish people centuries ago.

Just as Esther answered that call in her day, so we, the Church, must answer that call in our day, ‘for such a time as this’ when anti-Semitism is at its highest level since WWII, and Israel’s enemies threaten to ‘wipe Israel off the map’.