“What Is Your Request?” [Matt's Messages]

“What Is Your Request?”Where Is God? - The Tale of Queen EstherLanse Evangelical Free ChurchNovember 16, 2025 :: Esther 5:1-14  
Queen Esther is about to do the bravest thing she has ever done.
Queen Esther is about to embark on what might be, for her, a suicide mission.  She is going to take her life into her own hands and break the law of the land for the sake of her people.
Queen Esther is about to go stand before the king.
Esther is married to this king, King Ahasuerus, mostly likely King Xerxes I, Xerxes the Great of Persia. The year is probably 474BC.
And her husband the king has been manipulated by his evil adviser Haman to give his royal authorization for all of the Jews in the Persian kingdom from India to Ethiopia to be destroyed, killed, and annihilated on a single day, eleven months from now (3:13). Every single Jew was to killed on that chosen day. Young and old. Women and little children. Leaving no survivors. And all of their stuff was to be confiscated for the glory of the Persian Empire.
The Jews throughout the world are in danger of extermination, and they have gone into bewilderment and mourning. They have dressed in sackcloth and ashes and are weeping throughout the world.
Including Mordecai. Mordecai was Esther’s cousin and guardian. He had raised Esther ever since her parents died. And he was a Jew working in the king’s own administration. 
And, yes, that means that Esther was a Jew, as well. Her Jewish name was Hadassah. But nobody knew it! Mordecai and Esther had kept it a secret all these years.
But now, Mordecai had gone public with his identity. He had refused to bow to Haman which had so enraged Haman that he had come up with this plan to kill not just Mordecai but all of the Jews.
And now Mordecai, dressed himself in sackcloth and ashes, has howled his way through the city of Susa up to the palace to call upon Esther to go public, as well, and to approach her husband the king asking him if he could to put a stop to the genocide.
And that would be very dangerous for Queen Esther. Because they have a law in this kingdom that nobody but nobody comes to the king unless the king calls them. And the punishment for breaking this law is death! The king determines who comes and goes in his presence. We saw in chapter 1 that this king had called his previous queen, Vashti, to come, and she had refused. And she was stripped of her crown and banished to never see the king’s face again. What would happen if this queen shows up without being called?
She hasn’t been called for a month. The king hasn’t had any time for Esther. Not interested! This is very dangerous, and Esther didn’t really want to go.
But Keagan just read to us what we studied last week where Mordecai tried to persuade her to go anyway. He said that she was in danger either way. Someone was going to find out that she was Jew, and all of the Jews are supposed to be killed. 
The king probably doesn’t know that Esther is a Jew. How does she probably want to him to find out? Probably from her own lips and not from someone else!
And maybe, just maybe, she has reached this place, being the Queen of Persia, for such a time as this. Who knows? 
How is it that someone like Esther could be where she is today? This is a very unlikely tale! What are the chances? Perhaps Someone who has gone unnamed throughout this story is orchestrating the story, even the hard and bad parts, so that Esther has reached this place to do this thing? Who knows? It’s possible.
And Queen Esther has received this counsel and made up her mind. She asked Mordecai to gather all of the Jews in the city to fast for her for three days. And we know that probably means to pray for her for those three days, as well. And she and her team in the palace are also going to fast for three days. And then she is going to go to the king, no matter what. Even if she dies. She said, “If I perish, I perish.”
And that’s where we are when chapter 5 begins. Esther, Mordecai, and all of the Jews have fasted for three days.
Have you ever gone without food for three days? I have not. Not even close. I don’t like to go three hours. I can’t imagine not having eaten since Thursday! Can you? Or drank anything?! I’m thirsty just thinking about it. I can’t imagine going three days without drinking something! How did Esther do it? How did she feel? Weak. Dehydrated. Headache-y. 
No matter. In her weakness, she was strong. And courageous. Look at verse 1.
“On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king's hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance.”
What a moment! I don’t think we can truly imagine what it must have been like for Esther. It’s the third day. There’s something about third days in the Bible, isn’t there?! This is the third day of the fast. It doesn’t say that she ate anything. But she did get dressed up. 
She doesn’t go in sackcloth and ashes. She goes dressed in royalty. The Hebrew basically says, “She wore royalty” or “She wore the kingdom.” Esther put on her most breathtakingly beautiful royal clothes and left the harem, walking in regal dignity down the hallways.
What must have gone through her head? We’re going to see in moment that she has not just sat around for three days doing nothing. Esther has been busy thinking and planning out what she will say and do if the king does not have her killed on sight.
There is only once chance of survival. If the king decides to be merciful (and Xerxes was not known for his mercy), then he can hold out his golden scepter to her, and she would be safe. But there is no telling whether or not he will do such a thing. It could go either way.
There are ancient paintings of the King of Persia sitting on his throne with a Median soldier standing behind him with an axe. Ready to cut off the head of someone who comes when they weren’t called.
Esther must have been holding her breath in this tense moment!
Notice that she exercises prudence and caution. She does not just waltz all the way in. She stops at the entry way to the king’s hall where he can see her. But she just stands there and waits. Attracting his attention but waiting for his response. That’s courage! Verse 2.
“When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.”
Esther is still alive!
But the Jews are still slated for death. What’s going to happen next? Look at verse 3.
“Then the king asked, ‘What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you.’”
The king is intrigued. He knows something must be up if Esther has appeared without being summoned.
“What is it, Queen Esther?” I love it that he calls her by her full name. Even though she hadn’t eaten in three days, she was clearly at her best. Her beauty had always charmed him, and now there was something more.
I picked the king’s question in verse 3 as the title for this message because it’s a turning point in the story, and it gets repeated in verse 6, as well. In fact, it will show up several more times before we get to the end of the book: “What Is Your Request?”
Ahasuerus wants to know what Esther really wants. And he offers her up to half the kingdom. I think that’s an exaggeration. It’s a figure of speech that means that he is ready to be extremely generous to her. He is feeling magnanimous. Like when he poured out all of the wine to his guests in the banquets of chapter 1. Or when he forgave everyone’s taxes when Esther was picked to be queen in chapter 2. Or when he loaned his royal ring to Haman to put his wicked plan into place. This king loves to be extravagant.
“What is your request?” 
What would you have said back to the king if you were Esther?
The other reason I picked these words for the title of this message was that they got me thinking about what I am asking my God to do for me. Because our Lord wants us to bring Him our requests, as well. He is much more dependable than Xerxes[!], and He is even more interested in hearing us ask for things.
The Lord Jesus taught us, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8. See also Luke 11:9).
What is your request?
In studying chapter 5, I came up with three requests. Here’s number one.
#1. THAT I WOULD HAVE COURAGE LIKE QUEEN ESTHER DID.
Do you want that, too?
The more I study this story, the more I realize how brave she really was. Esther didn’t know if she was going to live or die, but she still did what she thought was right. That’s courage. As we learned last week, courage is not the absence of fear. It is doing the right thing even if you are afraid. 
Today, we have three Christians who are going to be baptized.
That takes courage. To stand before your friends and family in public and say, “Jesus has saved me. Jesus died for my sins and came back to life to give me life. I believe in Him. And I want to tell the world.”
Well done, you three. Way to be courageous! These three are not staying silent. They are, like Queen Esther, going public with their truest identity. 
“I belong to Jesus!”
Have you been courageous in this same way? Some of you are Christians who have not yet taken the step of water baptism. And for some of you it’s because of fear. Fear of the water, fear of saying something in public, fear of being identified as one of those extreme Christians. 
Let me encourage you to be courageous like Queen Esther and step forward in baptism. And step forward out there in sharing the gospel with your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, strangers, and even enemies. 
If Esther could do this, what could you and I do?
“Lord, we request courage.”
What do you think Esther is going to ask for?
We know what she wants. She wants to save the Jews. Does she just come out and ask for that? Sometimes the direct approach is the best one. But Esther has thought about this, and she’s got another idea.  She knows her man. Look at verse 4.
Oh, by the way, remember to boo and hiss when we get to the name of the enemy of the Jews. 
I went to the middle school play on Friday night, and they did that every time Copper (aka Duke Dreadful) showed up on stage.
Let’s drown out the name of Haman in verse 4.
“‘What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you.’ ‘If it pleases the king,’ replied Esther, ‘let the king, together with[...]Haman, come today to a banquet I have prepared for him.’”
“Wait, what? You came over here to invite me to a banquet? I love banquets!”
This is a surprise. Esther has done something unexpected. And we’re seeing a new side to her character. Not only is she beautiful. Not only is she regal. Not only is she courageous. But she is wise.
This is not a spur of the moment thing. Esther isn’t chickening out and putting off the inevitable. No, she knows her man loves a banquet. And she’s been preparing one for him while fasting! I never thought about that until this week. She says that she’s been overseeing the preparations for a feast while she has been fasting from food and drink!
There’s a method to her madness. She’s wily and wise. And she’s setting the hook.
‘If it pleases the king...come today to a banquet I have prepared for him.”
Remember banquets (Hebrew: mishteh) are very important in this story. There are about 10 of them, and every time there is a banquet, something really important happens.
This one is put on by Queen Esther, and she has invited both the king and  (surprisingly) Haman.
Why did she do that? We don’t know, but it sure seems like she has a plan.
The king loves it! “Well, sure we can do that! I thought you were going to do something hard.” Verse 5. [Don’t forget to boo and hiss.]
“‘Bring Haman at once,’ the king said, ‘so that we may do what Esther asks.’ So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared.”
The scene has changed. They are now in a different part of the palace, perhaps a banquet hall. It’s just Esther, Xerxes, and Haman. And they are eating and drinking. And probably drinking and drinking and drinking some more, knowing Xerxes and Haman. That could get dangerous. But Esther has a plan. Verse 6.
“As they were drinking wine, the king again asked Esther, ‘Now what is your petition? It will be given you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.’”
“There’s got to be more, right? You didn’t come all the way over here and risk your life just to invite me to dinner, did you?”  Verse 7.
“Esther replied, ‘My petition and my request is this: If the king regards me with favor and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king's question.’”
Surprise! She doesn’t just blurt out, “My name is Hadassah. Please save my people!” No, she says, “I’ll tell you tomorrow at banquet number two!”
She’s not chickening out. She’s got a plan. She’s building anticipation. She’s using her gifts. She’s practicing persuasion. She is using wisdom.
My friend Pastor Nick Boonstra at our Free Church in State College preached through Esther this time last year, and I’ve been listening to his messages to cheat, I mean, to gain insight from him.
And Nick brought out a whole host of the Proverbs that Esther was embodying in this part of the story, like:
Proverbs 15:28 – “The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil.” 
She thought about what to say and weighed it all out before blurting something out.
Proverbs 13:15 – “Good judgment wins favor, but the way of the unfaithful leads to their destruction” (NIV).
Good judgment, that’s wisdom, wins favor. That’s what she was after with the King. That’s what she got from this king over and over again. She received favor because of God’s grace, but also because she exercised God’s wisdom along the way.
And I want that for me, too. That’s my request, Lord.
#2. THAT I WOULD HAVE WISDOM LIKE QUEEN ESTHER DID.
That I would grow in my understanding of how to live well in this world. That I would understand how people think, what makes people tick. And that I would become more persuasive. Not to manipulate people but to serve people well.
Esther is at the top of her game in wisely relating to these two powerful, dangerous, volatile men. She’s a woman in a dangerous kingdom for women, and she’s using every  bit of wisdom that she can put to work to serve her people who are also in danger.
She isn’t just just going off half-cocked. She isn’t just typing whatever she wants onto social media and seeing what happens. She has weighed her answers and used good judgment in seeking the favor the king.
I’ve been reading some books recently about how to have better conversations especially when you disagree with the person you’re talking to. I want to grow in that. My tendency is to run away from hard conversations, and when I can’t do that, I tend to talk too much and not listen as well. The right approach is to listen much and then courageously say just what needs said.
And that takes wisdom. Wherever would we get that?
The Bible says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).
What is your request? That I would have wisdom like Queen Esther did.
At this point, Esther steps off stage. The next banquet isn’t until tomorrow, and she’s got a lot of work to do to get ready for it. At least she can eat now!
But in the last few verses of chapter 5, we follow Haman on his way home from Esther’s banquet. And he’s really happy with himself. Look at verse 9, and don’t forget to boo and hiss. Because he’s really earning it here. Verse 9.
“Haman went out that day happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king's gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. Calling together his friends and Zeresh, his wife, Haman boasted to them about his vast wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored him and how he had elevated him above the other nobles and officials. ‘And that's not all,’ Haman added. ‘I'm the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow. But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king's gate’” (vv.9-13).
What a great guy, huh? I think we might use the word “narcissist?” Haman is so full of himself. He leaves the palace whistling. He’s probably drunk from the banquet, “happy and in high spirits.”
But his happiness dissipates immediately when he sees Mordecai in his sackcloth and ashes and he still doesn’t honor him. Mordecai doesn’t even say anything. He just stands there looking at Haman in defiance. He doesn’t even seem scared! 
And that just sends Haman over the edge again. He just about loses control and attacks Mordecai right then and there, but he doesn’t know exactly what to do so he just goes home fuming. And there are his “friends” and his wife. And he sits there and tells them all kinds of things they already know. How much money he has. How many sons he has. My guess is that Zeresh already knows that! The answer is 10 (see Esther 9:10), but that doesn’t keep him from talking about. These are all markers of greatness in Persian culture. Haman is obsessed with being seen as great.  
“All of the ways the king had honored him and how he had elevated him above the other nobles and officials.” 
“Have I told you how great I am?” He’s got to talk about himself. Egocentric. Vain. In love with the sound of his own voice. Prideful. And you know what the Proverbs say about pride...  Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverb 16:18).
Just as Queen Esther was personifying wisdom, Haman was personifying foolishness.
“And that's not all...I'm the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow....But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king's gate.”
It wasn’t enough. Nothing was ever enough for Haman. His heart was so controlled by pride, and greed, and hate, and anger that he could not be thankful for the many gifts that he had been given. 
I don’t know about you, but I don’t to end up like Haman. So that’s my request.
#3. THAT I WOULD HAVE GRATEFULNESS LIKE HAMAN DID NOT.
I want to live with contentment and thanksgiving. And not just this time of year, though it’s really good to concentrate on thanksgiving at key times like this. 
I don’t want to become like Haman, ruled by my circumstances and my emotions. I want to be filled with gratefulness for all the good gifts that God has given me.
Haman’s wife Zeresh seems to be tired of hearing him complain about Mordecai. So she suggests he do something about him once and for all. “Let’s not wait until next year when we kill all the Jews. Why don’t you kill Mordecai tomorrow? If you are so high and mighty, how about that? And let’s make him an example like you’ve never seen before. Remember Bigthana and Teresh hung in the front yard? Let’s do that but on steroids.” Verse 14.
“His wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, ‘Have a gallows built, seventy-five feet high, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go with the king to the dinner and be happy.’ This suggestion delighted Haman, and he had the gallows built.”
Just when you think it couldn’t get worse! 
Haman’s loving Jezebel-of-a-wife has suggested he build a gallows that is taller than the palace. The columns on the front of this palace were 70 feet tall. Is that more exaggeration in Persian-style storytelling? Or just the outsized ugly expression of outsized hateful hearts? These gallows were probably a scaffold on a base perhaps on a hillside out which rose a very tall pole upon which the victim would be impaled.
And you see how Haman feels about this? He loves Zeresh’s idea! He calls the carpenters out of their homes to build it over night. You can hear the hammers pounding all through the night. A skyscraper of a killing machine.
Haman feels better and goes right to sleep. And Esther and Mordecai don’t know what’s coming.  Who will get to Xerxes first? Esther or Haman? We don’t know. And we’re going stop the story right there because we have some baptizing to do. 
But before we do, we need to remind ourselves just how grateful we should all be.
Haman had many gifts. But we have so much more. We have God’s amazing grace, amen? We have salvation through Jesus Christ.
Because our Lord Jesus Christ went to the gallows himself. He was nailed to a cross of wood. He was lifted up to save all who put their trust in Him.
He took all of our sin–all of our pride, all of our hate, all of our hot-tempered anger, all of our dissatisfaction with our circumstances, all of our transgressions, and He paid the penalty for it all.
At the cross. He took our place. And then He was buried. And then on the...third day--there’s something about that third day in the Bible--Jesus rose from the dead!
And that’s what these three who are coming to be baptized today believe.

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Messages in this Series:

01. The King Gave a Banquet - Esther 1:1-22
02. “Hadassah” - Esther 2:1-23
03. "Bewildered" - Esther 3:1-15
04. "Who Knows? - Esther 4:1-17