Trusting the Hidden King

He couldn’t let go… He was utterly consumed with revenge.

Years earlier, his father had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of their enemies. That loss hung over the family line like a shadow, and this king grew up with one goal burning in his chest: he would finish the war his father couldn’t.

And so he spent years gathering everyone and everything he could to make it happen. He raised an army so large that ancient writers struggled to count it. He lined the coastline with warships. He poured his treasury into weapons, supplies, and engineers. Nothing was allowed to slow him down.

When a storm destroyed the bridge his men had built across the sea, he didn’t rethink the plan. He raged. He ordered the waters to be beaten like a criminal. He threw chains into the waves as if he could bind the sea itself. And had the engineers who built the bridge beheaded for failing him.

Soon the bridge was rebuilt, the armies were ready, and the king marched toward Greece with the confidence of a man who thought nothing in heaven or on earth could stand in his way. The ground literally shook beneath the footsteps of his massive army. Nations bowed as he passed. Every sign pointed to victory.

But the Greeks didn’t break. A small force of 300 Spartan soldiers held a narrow mountain pass longer than anyone thought possible. Another storm shattered part of his fleet before the decisive battle even began. And when the final clash came, his enormous navy was outmaneuvered by smaller ships that fought with fearless precision.

By the end, the sea was littered with the wreckage of his pride. The invasion collapsed. The king who set out to erase a nation fled home with humiliation. His power had looked unstoppable. His strength had looked unmatched. But it all crumbled like a paper boat on the waves.

And long before history recorded his fall, the Bible recorded his rise. Because before the defeat… before the shame… we meet this same king in Esther chapter 1, standing at the height of his power.

And the Bible shows us that moment for a reason. Because while this earthly king shines on the surface, the unseen King is already at work beneath it. And Esther 1 lets us see this so we might trust the hidden king

But… To trust the hidden king, you must reject:

1. Pride for humility
2. Pleasure
3. Power

At first glance, you don’t see this immediately in the text, But when Esther 1 begins, this isn’t just a party. It’s a call to arms. Xerxes gathers nobles, generals, and governors from across the empire,

And it wasn’t simply because the king liked to party, it was a party with a purpose. And that purpose was a call to arms.

But if you’re going to call people to arms, you need to show them that you’re a king worth following. So that’s what Xerxes did. For six months he parades his wealth. Gold. Marble. Vast courts. Banquet tables overflowing. He paraded his VAST wealth because he wanted everyone to see his power so they would follow him.

In fact, the historian Herodotus even records a speech where the king promises rewards to every man who joins him in punishing Greece.

In other words, this feast is military theater. A show of strength meant to say, “Follow me into battle, and I’ll make you richer than you ever imagined!” This is the first thread of pride. A man trying to secure devotion with splendor instead of wisdom. A ruler building his confidence on gold instead of God.

And the author wants us to feel the weight of it. Curtains of white and violet. Marble pillars. Gold and silver couches. Goblets of pure gold.

It sounds exactly like another place in Scripture. It sounds like the temple of Yahweh. That is not an accident. It is a deliberate irony, meant to show us the vanity of pride in a counterfeit kingdom.

And for the Jews living in Susa, the message was unavoidable. They had once worshiped in a house filled with beauty and glory. A place where God dwelled among His people. But because of their rebellion, all that splendor now sat in the palace of a pagan king.

But God had warned them ahead of time in 1 Kings 9 that if they turned from Him, the temple would become a joke to the nations. And that is exactly what happened. Their exile was not an accident. It was the cost of their pride.

So the author writes this story years later to remind them that pride always collapses. It might glitter, but it cannot last. It dazzles, but it cannot save.

But that’s only if you look on the surface. Because underneath the marble floors, the gold goblets, and all the man-made splendor, there’s a truth every Israelite in exile would have felt in their bones. Pride is a counterfeit kingdom, and it always crumbles.

This is why Proverbs 16:18 says:

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Proverbs 16:18 ESV

The Jews weren’t in Susa because Persia was strong. They were in Susa because they had been proud. And now they stand in a palace that looks like their old temple’s shadow. Susa has all the gold of Jerusalem, but none of its God.

That is the rich irony the author wants us to feel. Xerxes struts through a hall that looks like a temple, but he isn’t a priest. He isn’t a king in covenant with God. He’s just another man convincing himself he cannot fall.

And yet the author knows what we should know. “Though the nations rage, kingdoms rise and fall There is still one King reigning over all” as we often sing.

And yet… what do the people do? They flock to this counterfeit king… They are drawn in by what glitters but isn’t gold. And so are we…

Sure… we aren’t bowing in Susa, but we chase the same shine. We look at success, money, influence, comfort, or control and whisper, “That’s where life is.”

And it’s not just the culture around us that does this, It’s everyday Christians. How so? Look at the sad state of the church with people flocking to preachers with charismatic personalities instead of ones that faithfully proclaim the un-adulterated Word of the Lord. Churches that don’t talk about sin, death, hell, and judgment, and instead paint God into someone who exists for our immediate comfort.

Today is no different than Susa is it? We have all these lesser kings who promise us the same thing Xerxes did! “Follow me, and I’ll make you richer than you ever imagined!” And professing Christians fall for it every day.

Now look, I’m not saying this because I think you all are in a bad church with a bad preacher... I sure hope not… I’m saying it because even in a healthy, Bible-preaching church, pride can quietly slip in.

We may not chase false teachers, but we can still chase false expectations. We can convince ourselves that if God is truly with us, life should be smooth and comfortable. And when it isn’t, we grow frustrated or quietly bitter.

And when it doesn’t, we get confused, or frustrated, or quietly bitter.

But that’s JUST pride… Because pride says: “I know how my life should go and God had better agree with me or else!”

But my friends, THAT IS NOT THE CHRISTIAN LIFE! Not even a little bit! and if you think the Christian life is about having your best life now, Then you’ll have your best life now and spend an eternity in hell!

The Christian life is not built on pride. It is built on humility. It is built on remembering that everything we have is mercy, not merit. which frees us to love God and serve others instead of serving our own comfort and pleasure.

To trust the hidden king, you must reject:

If pride builds the palace, pleasure fills it. And that’s what you see next in Esther 1. The king who wants to display his power now wants to display the pleasure his power can afford. And in Persia, pleasure had no brakes.

The seven-day feast that follows the six-month war council has: The wine flowing freely with everyone drinking as much as they wanted. No restraint. No wisdom. Just indulgence without limits.

And remember, this is a war council… not just a party… And according to the historian Herodotus, the Persian culture believed that the best plans are drunk plans. I kid you not!

They believed that when you were intoxicated, you were more in-tuned with the SPIRITS, which would then help you make better decisions… And I agree… in part… Drunkenness does make you more in tune with the spirits… But these ain’t friendly spirits… They are demonic spirits whose plans are always laced with traps…

And so in the midst of this drunken war council, King Xerxes makes one of his worst decisions. “Bring Queen Vashti.” Not to honor her. Not to bless her. But to display her before a bunch of drunken men to be gawked at.

Now, a lot of people have tried to figure out exactly what the king had in mind here… Because when verse 11 says: “Bring Queen Vashti with her royal crown.” The Hebrew can mean, “Just her royal crown…” Either way, It’s the same principle at play here. Which is a king who is objectifying his wife as a sexual object to serve as a tool for his prideful purposes.

That’s what sinful pleasure does when God isn’t in the room. It turns people into objects who exist for our pleasure. which not only leads to the person’s value being diminished, it leads to the image of God in that person being mocked and perverted for sensual gain.

And church, that’s not only a Persian problem. That’s a human problem.

Men (and yes sadly even women) still do what Xerxes did. They view other image bearers as tools to excite their passion and pleasure in a way that dishonors God and diminishes the person’s dignity. And for whatever reason, Queen Vashti had enough of it and said no! Which means, this pagan Queen did what Queen Esther would not! As we’ll get to in chapter 2. She wouldn’t come out and be paraded as a sexual object of pleasure before gawking eyes.

Objectification isn’t just something men only do with their eyes. It’s something women learn to do to themselves. Because as men like to lust, women like to be lusted after, Our culture disciples men to crave attention from women and disciples women to seek validation from being noticed by men. It’s different sides of the same broken coin.

I was listening to a podcast recently about how far off the rails we’ve gone here. And it talked about how men have, basically, naked women thrown at them on every billboard, ad, and movie. And to make matters worse, We now give 10 year boys phones, which is two taps away from accessing materials that would make Playboy blush…

And then we say: “Be pure. Don’t objectify women.” But we send them into environments where clothing is designed to reveal what used to be considered private. Shirts so tight and so low that every man in the room knows more about that woman’s body than she does. Leggings and tights that used to be undergarments are now treated as normal pants.

And this isn’t just “out there.” Sadly, it’s common among Christians. We’ve been so desensitized that we hardly blink anymore.

Make no mistake about it, sexual pleasure is one of the major counterfeit gods of our age, and sadly, the church often stays quiet. Instead of older women telling younger women, “That outfit is not helpful. It’s drawing attention in a way that isn’t godly.” They say: “you look so great!” But that’s part of the problem… They look too great… in a way that is causing their brothers in Christ to stumble.

And to be clear, we’re not giving men a free pass. We need men who will resist the cultural current. Men who will guard their eyes, fight their flesh, and treat women as sisters, not screen shots to feed to their sensual pleasure.

We need men who will lovingly help their wives and daughters think about: what honors God, what protects dignity, and what helps others - not harms them. Who will lovingly tell their wives and daughters what kind of clothing is helpful or unhelpful to wear.

Do you know where the term “Trophy Wife” comes from? My guess is it goes back to men like Xerxes. A man consumed with pride and pleasure who loves the feeling of other people staring at what he has. And so men need to fight the Xerxian urge to treat their wives in this way by parading them immodest clothing before watching eyes.

But God calls His people to something better. Not a culture where bodies are displayed for applause, but a way of life where image bearers are honored, and where pleasure is kept under the authority of God’s Word. Not a life ruled by appetite, but a life shaped by holiness and self-control, that enjoys sexual pleasure the way God intended.

And that contrast is exactly where the text goes next. Because when Vashti refuses to be paraded, everyone in the room snaps. A room full of loud, partying drunken nobles goes silent. Why? Because the king who can command armies can’t command his own wife. And nothing exposes the fragility of sinful pleasure faster than someone saying no to it.

Verse 12 says Xerxes burned with anger. And that anger makes perfect sense once you remember what this whole event was about. This wasn’t a birthday party. This wasn’t a private banquet. This was the moment where Xerxes wanted every man in the empire to see why they should trust him AND follow him to war. But right in the middle of it all, is a Queen who refused to follow him… which undermined it all.

Do you feel the weight of that? The one moment he needed unquestioned loyalty, his own wife exposes his weakness. The king who can command armies cannot command his own household.

In a single refusal, Vashti cracks the illusion Xerxes spent six months constructing. She unmasks the truth behind the gold and marble. She shows that his “glory” is paper thin, and that it’s propped up by pleasure, alcohol, and ego.

This is why the room goes silent. This is why Xerxes burns with rage. The entire point of the feast has been undermined by a woman who simply refuses to be objectified.

And church, this is exactly how sinful pleasure works. It promises control. It promises fulfillment. It promises strength. But it only takes one interruption to expose how fragile it all really is.

The moment the idol can’t deliver, anger erupts. The moment desire is blocked, frustration boils, and the illusion of control shatters.

And so Xerxes’ moment of greatest display turns into his moment of greatest embarrassment, not because of a military defeat, but because sinful pride and pleasure always sets us up to fall.

But Esther 1 is not here only to expose counterfeit pleasure. It is here to call God’s people to the better way. If sinful pleasure is about taking, godly pleasure is found through sacrificial giving. If worldly pleasure demands applause, godly pleasure chooses sacrificial obedience. If pagan kings treat people as objects, the people of God honor each other at sacrificial cost to themselves.

But for Xerxes, that wasn’t an option… Because as soon as that illusion cracks, Instead of sacrificing his pride and pleasure, he reaches for power to sacrifice his wife for the sake of himself.

To trust the hidden king, you must reject:

1. Pride for humility

When King Xerxes pride and pleasure are threatened, Instead of humbling himself, he reaches for power to fix it.

In verse 13, the wise men show up, but nothing that follows looks wise at all. Memucan takes a private marital conflict and recasts it as a national crisis.

And the logic is that Vashti has not only wronged the king but the nobles and all the peoples of every province. Because when the women hear what she has done, they will have a women’s rebellion on their hands.

If this sounds funny, it’s because it’s meant to. This is satire. It is meant to sound ridiculous. The text is exposing men with massive influence but zero security. Men who sit in marble halls and hold scepters, yet tremble at the thought of their wives not listening to them. This isn’t strength… this is insecurity dressed up like authority.

So Memucan proposes a solution that reveals the heart of worldly power. He tells the king to strip Vashti of her position, write an unchangeable decree, and send it to every province. Which set’s up the “beauty contest” where they search for a new queen in chapter 2. The goal is to send a message throughout the entire empire that the king demands respect in every household. Which is why the edict commands the native language of each house to be that of the husband’s.

And all of this is very ironic, because they are afraid of women hearing about Vashti and rebelling against their husbands. And yet the king publicizes all of that weakness by sending a letter to the world.

That’s hilariously stupid… And the author wants us to see that. He wants us to see that the decree that was meant to project strength only exposed weakness.

And so the king who claims to “the Lord of Lords” makes an irrevocable decree, When the truth is, thee is only ONE KING Who’s laws are irrevocable, and that’s Yahweh God’s…

Xerxes speaks as if his word is final, but the whole scene exposes how fragile his authority really is. He is not ruling with strength. He is reacting out of selfishness and fear.

And notice their justification for this… It’s about “the public good.” Isn’t that always how corrupt power operates? It justifies selfish evil in the name of public service, But it’s not… it’s only self-service.

That is how worldly power works. It is loud because it is insecure. It is forceful because it is hollow. It grasps for control when weakness is exposed.

But before we judge Xerxes too harshly, we need to hold up mirror to ourselves first… Husbands, how do you respond when you feel disrespected by your wives? Do you respond in humility and grace… Or do you start signing “irrevocable decrees” and go for character assassination with your spouse? Wives, when you feel unloved, Do you use power, even sexual power to humiliate and control?

Because a lot of commentators believe that’s what the men were worried about… Women would get the upper hand on their husbands and go on a bedroom strike, which ACTUALLY happened not long after this event… It’s in the history books…

Parents, when your children disappoint you, do you quickly reach for the power of a harsh tone or cruel words with your kids? Because all that is King Xerxes-like behavior on a smaller scale!

Look we could keep going here… We could talk about how we do this with friends, with our churches when things don’t go our way, and even with God!

The point is, we all have a little King Xerxes in our heart that reaches for control when our pride and pleasure are threatened. And always leads to foolish, sinful, and destructive consequences.

So what’s the solution? Not a new wife, spouse, kid, friend or church… We need a new king.

A king who doesn’t lash out when His people fail Him. A king who doesn’t grasp for power to protect His ego. A king who doesn’t discard those who embarrass Him. And my friends there is only ONE King who fits the bill, and it’s King Jesus who is the TRUE King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

For He is the only king who used His power not in pride, but in humility! He is the only King who sacrifices His pleasure for ours! And He is the only King who gave us His power so He might serve us. Jesus is everything King Xerxes is not.

And make no mistake, He is the hidden king of the book of Esther, and every page whispers His name!

He is the King we must trust. Not the false kings of pride, pleasure, or human power. But the true King, Who gave up His crown so we might wear one.

And this is where Esther 1 sets the stage for everything that follows. Because in this book, nothing is as it first appears. The powerful aren’t as powerful as they seem. The weak aren’t as forgotten as they feel. Palaces aren’t as secure as they look. And God is never as absent as He seems.

The story opens with the strongest man on earth. Yet by the time we finish the book, the people he threatened will be delivered, The proud fall. The overlooked rise. The weak are protected. The schemes of the wicked collapse under their own weight.

That is the great reversal of Esther. And the heartbeat of that reversal points us to the greatest reversal of them all, which Jesus Christ, the hidden King, Who accomplished the greatest reversal on the cross. And by God’s grace through faith in Him, we can step inside that great reversal ourselves.

Because the God who overturned the schemes in Esther is the God Who overturned death itself through the cross. And through faith in Christ that great reversal becomes ours.

This is the manuscript the sermon was preached from, so the recording may differ in places.