Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #11 Annihilation. That is what the Jews faced because of Haman’s decree. The message went out and Jews began to contemplate what they were going to do. Read Esther 3:12-15. Then the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and it was written just as Haman commanded to the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province and to the princes of each people, each province according to its script, each people according to its language, being written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring. Letters were sent by couriers to all…

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #10 Trust. It’s a great thing in the hands of those who are worthy of it. It’s a very dangerous thing in the hands of anyone else. Read Esther 3:7-11. In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, Pur, that is the lot, was cast before Haman from day to day and from month to month, until the twelfth month, that is the month Adar. Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all…

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #9 Hatred of the Jews. Not a new idea, unfortunately, but one that we see here. Read Esther 3:1-6. After these events King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and established his authority over all the princes who were with him. All the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman; for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage. Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why are you transgressing the king’s command?” Now it was when they…

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #8 Esther had been cared for by Mordecai, but she wasn’t the only one that Mordecai took care of. Read Esther 2:18-23. Then the king gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his princes and his servants; he also made a holiday for the provinces and gave gifts according to the king’s bounty. When the virgins were gathered together the second time, then Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. Esther had not yet made known her kindred or her people, even as Mordecai had commanded her; for Esther did what Mordecai told her as she had done when under his care. In those…

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #7 Chosen. Esther was chosen by name. Here we see all that she went through to get ready for the moment when she would have her opportunity to meet the king. Read Esther 2:10-17. Esther did not make known her people or her kindred, for Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make them known. Every day Mordecai walked back and forth in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and how she fared. Now when the turn of each young lady came to go in to King Ahasuerus, after the end of her twelve months under the regulations…

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #6 Impact. Esther made an impact everywhere she went. Read Esther 2:5-9. Now there was at the citadel in Susa a Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives who had been exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had exiled. He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai…

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #5 The pageant. And, really, only one judge and one person whose opinion matters. Read Esther 2:1-4. After these things when the anger of King Ahasuerus had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. Then the king’s attendants, who served him, said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. Let the king appoint overseers in all the provinces of his kingdom that they may gather every beautiful young virgin to the citadel of Susa, to the harem, into the custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let…

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #4 A plan. The king felt that he had been disgraced and so he went back with his advisers and team to decide what to do. Read Esther 1:16-22. In the presence of the king and the princes, Memucan said, “Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king but also all the princes and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. For the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women causing them to look with contempt on their husbands by saying, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in to his presence, but she did not come.’…

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #3 The problem. With all of the grandeur of the party, the king still had a problem. He wanted to show off his Queen the way he had shown off everything else. However, his Queen wouldn’t come. Read Esther 1:10-15. On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown in order to display her beauty to the people and the princes, for she was beautiful. But Queen Vashti…

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #2 A party of their own. The women decided that while the men were throwing a party, they would have their own. Read Esther 1:5-9. When these days were completed, the king gave a banquet lasting seven days for all the people who were present at the citadel in Susa, from the greatest to the least, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace. There were hangings of fine white and violet linen held by cords of fine purple linen on silver rings and marble columns, and couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and precious stones.…