“When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry: and came even before the king's gate, for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. And in every province withers ever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
Then call Esther for Hatach, one of the king's chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it was and why it was.... And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and of the sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them. And also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to show it unto Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go in unto the king, to make supplication unto him, and to make request before him for her people.
Again Esther spoke unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai; All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter, that he may live; but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days. And they told Mordecai Esther's words. Then commanded Mordecai to answer Esther, think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed; and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer, Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I, also, and my maidens will fast likewise; and so I will go in unto the king, which is not according to law; and if I perish, I perish. So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him." (Esther 4:1-3, 5, 7, 8, 10-17)
WE have seen that through the malignity of Haman, all the Jews were by decree, to be destroyed upon a certain fixed day. It made no matter as to the fact, how this was brought about; thus it was. The decree was unalterable. Of course they were perfectly helpless in themselves. But yesterday, and they still might have felt the proud distinction of being Jews; and though acknowledging certain disabilities in being out of their land, and therefore not lords of the soil, nor of themselves; still they might hope to recover themselves from this. But to-day, all was over with them. It was not certain adverse circumstances which might be endured for the time, with the hope of recovering from them. It was hopelessness now, certain death, by an unchangeable law. Sentence might not be executed speedily, but it was none the less inevitable.
Such is the condition of the sinner now. His doom is certain. It is appointed once to die, and after this the judgment. Men may acknowledge that they are not as good as they ought to be, that they do many things that they ought not to do, and have left undone things which they ought to have done, with the hope that they can recover in some way from these things. They may look for change of circumstances to give them a better chance, and think only of their actions, which may in time be amended. They may even think of forgiveness of sins with God. But this does not meet the doom that is before them. "Sin, when it is finished, brings forth death!" "The wages of sin is death!" "DEATH passed upon all men, for all have sinned." God told this out when sin first entered into the world, and the lapsing years have never witnessed its repeal. It is an attainder to which there is no reversal. The cross instead of bringing a reprieve, but confirms, illustrates and emphasizes it—DEATH BY SIN!
What gives its awful meaning to the cross, making it stand out solitary and signal, is that it tells of the judgment of God against the sinner. Christ was there made to be sin; was treated as the sinner. It gathered and concentrated all the solemn story of blood in the Jewish ritual; it explained the terrific sharpness of judgment against evil doers; the flood; the overthrow of Sodom; the drowning of Pharaoh and his hosts; the sweeping out of the Canaanites; the stoning of the Sabbath-breaker and the blasphemer. (Num. 16, Lev. 24). It stands the one assurance that God cannot look upon sin; cannot allow it on His earth or in His presence. It held His own Son, taking the sinner's standing, and there was no escape. It is left with this lesson for a time, while God proceeds no further with men, that they may accept it as His settled verdict. It is the ratification of all His declarations in regard to sin and its demerits. If God spared not the old world, spared not Sodom and Gomorrah, spared not Pharaoh and the Egyptians, nor the inhabitants of the land of Canaan; if He spared not His chosen Israel in their rebellion again and again, coming with swift judgment, after He long endured; if He spared not His Son, what can be more thoroughly established than this, as the essential order of His moral government—SIN AND DEATH?
In the case of Mordecai and the Jews in this chapter, it is accepted. Verse 1 tells us this "When Mordecai perceived all that was done." He took in the dreadful fact of what was done. Then he "rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and bitter cry.”
Alas, how many hear the decree of God as to the punishment of sin, and make light of it. This decree was a reality to Mordecai and the Jews in the various provinces, when they heard of it. But even now, when "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteous-mess" (Rom. 1:18), the many are disposed to treat it as an idle tale. They begin to reason about God. He is too good or too merciful, or His proclamation does not mean the fearful thing the words imply. "Everlasting punishment" is neither punishment, nor everlasting. "The wicked shall be cast into hell" can all be explained away. "Things are not so bad as that; we are not lost; God will take account of sincerity, and of native goodness.”
These, and a multitude of other things, are the response of men's hearts and minds to the word of God, as to the fearful scene just before them. It is the heart opposed to God, "being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts, who, being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanliness with greediness." Such is God's decision of those who turn away from His estimate of their condition and danger.
But Mordecai's rent clothes and the ashes tell of ruin and death. He knows it, and his wail is bitter. He goes "even before the king's gate, clothed with sackcloth." He will not conceal his nation and consequent doom; It is a time to tell out all, and take the sad consequences. There was a vast difference between the light and joy of the king's presence, and being outside the gate. His place was outside; doomed and banished by reason of his nativity. He was born a Jew.
The king would have no sign of mourning or of woe before him. In the presence of God is "fullness of joy." Nothing unclean, no death, no mourning, no sin can be before Him. The doomed goat upon which the Lord's lot fell, as the sin bearer must be burned outside the camp. It is awful to be a sinner! God means everywhere to teach that. The leper might plead that his disease was but a trifle; that it was but a pimple or rising scab, and that the recuperative powers of nature would soon overcome that; and, at any rate, he was otherwise well, and he could cover from sight the sore. But God pronounced him unclean; and outside the camp he must go, bearing his uncleanness, and there, at the approach of every one, he must announce his condition. For sin is terribly separating. It separates from God and from His people, and it separates men from one another. Each one has it in him for himself, and each one has the doom of it for himself.
Beloved reader! if you are unsaved, sin is your only possession. You may ignore it in your conversation and intimacies; you may speak of the dignity of your manhood; you may strut with pride, your brief hour; but you have no foundation for your boast, for your real foundation is sin. Before God it is manifest, not by occasional missteps, but as the one condition in which you do all your acting. It is kindness in God to tell you, and you are faithfully apprised of it and warned of its results, as the proclamation went out through all the provinces, in our story.
But, you may say, they were helpless to relieve themselves, and the proclamation only made known to them certain death. So it is with you! It has been exceedingly mischievous that any teaching anywhere, or any thought of your own heart has allowed the suggestion that you could do anything to set aside the judgment of God. It is final. Consider well then, that Mordecai and the Jews gave the only true answer to the proclamation of death, by the place of sorrow they took. They bowed to it. Do you bow to it.? God has His own way of meeting His decree, His demand for death. You have none.
It has already been suggested that Mordecai, the man, exemplifies the acting of faith. It does here. We shall see further along, Esther's place. Faith simply accepted the ruin as a fact; it did nothing. It is not something that you are to render to God as an equivalent for your sins or for relief. It removes you from doing. It is ceasing from your own works. This lying in sackcloth and ashes was not trying to get a repeal of the decree; it was very fitting, though, as expressing the hopelessness of the case. Oh, to have you take the same place before God!
And now Esther sends to inquire the cause of this shameful conduct on the part of Mordecai. Sin ever brings into the place of shame. It will be a dreadful thing to have brought out the "what" and the "why" in your case at the judgment seat. Being exposed now, turns your beauty into ashes, and your pride into a terror. It is a solemn matter to be brought face to face with doom right in the fullness of enjoyment.
Poor Esther must learn it too, queen though she is, but lately a bride—the chosen of the king. The impending calamity includes her as well as the most obscure and remote of all the Jews. And now Mordecai would have her remember that these were her people, and that she shall go in and disclose the fact to the king. This is now to be brought to light; that the question may be left with the king, whether his love shall overbear his righteousness, whether mercy shall rejoice against judgment. She is really his; but the throne is his also. He has chosen her and exalted her according to his own heart; but he has signed and sealed and sent forth an unalterable decree.
This chapter leaves all in sorrow and uncertainty, the case being even more hopeless, for the king may not be approached except at his own pleasure! But there is no attempt to deny the full degree of misery, as many who are dead in trespasses and sins and far off from God by wicked works, as well as enemies in their nature, would seem to treat their condition. There was no indifference, no carelessness to the awful nature of all that was before them; no saying, "we are all alike, we have plenty of company;" no levity. The terrible catastrophe deepens, as we see that the king had not bidden Esther to his presence by holding out the scepter for thirty days. Is that scepter, the emblem of his righteousness and authority, for or against her? Just at the time that she has learned of her sentence, she comes to the consciousness that she has no way to reach the king!
Can anything be more appalling? Yes, your condition, dear friend, if today a sinner. Your state is unfolded in Eph. 2 as being "without Christ, having no hope, and without God in the world!" What language can more graphically describe you? Is this a thing to pass over lightly? The Judge is at the door. He is ready to judge. Now is the judgment of this world. The Holy Spirit is here to demonstrate this, that you are a sinner and are under judgment. There is no hope of making yourself better, of making up for lost time, of getting God to reverse His decree. Sin must be met by death!
My friend, I compassionate you; but what can I do? I dare not ask God to make an exception in your case, and keep back the penalty of death. The thief wanted to be taken down from the cross without suffering the just penalty of his crimes; but could the Holy One who hung beside him be a party to that? Do not think you are to escape in that way, that you are to be reprieved at the last moment. Neither at the first nor the last moment, will God act unrighteously nor consent to any escaping from justice. Could you endure heaven if you were let off with all your sin? Could you endure God, thus?
The case is intensely serious; ponder it well. "The wages of sin is death.”
God must find the way out of all this. He gives Christ as the solution.