SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 READINGS...Esther 5:1-10:3
The story of Esther and the salvation of the Jewish people comes to a completion in our readings today. Esther answered the call of God, and stood up for her people. She by faith revealed her own ethnicity to King Xerxes in order to ask for mercy for her people. The king had been misled by the evil Haman, whose hatred for Mordecai was so extensive that he wanted to annihilate the entire Jewish population. Haman had scheme for the death of Mordecai, but the truth prevailed and the pole that Haman set up for Mordecai was used to impale Haman. Esther also had a plan for the Jewish people who had been condemned to death by the wicked scheming of Haman. Xerxes had decreed their slaughter, and now he was decreeing that they could defend themselves on those days set aside for their extermination. The Lord blessed them and preserved them when the enemy came to kill them. God had once again protected His people.
Israel is God’s covenant people. The Lord had given His covenant promise to Abraham, then to Isaac, and then to Jacob. Jacob became Israel, and his twelve sons became the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel. From the tribe of Judah, the Lord promised a Messiah. Satan has always attempted to subvert and stop the plan of God. Here using Haman, he attempted to annihilate the people of God, stopping the fulfillment of God’s promise. At the time of Jesus’ birth, he had all the infant males slaughtered in Bethlehem…once again trying to stop the fulfillment of God’s promise. Satan used Judas to betray Christ in an effort to keep the Lord’s plan to be worked out through Jesus. He again miscalculated and misunderstood God’s purpose in sending Jesus, and the betrayal lead to the cross, which leads to the very fulfillment of God’s promise of salvation for Jew and Gentile alike. The dispersion of the Jewish people culminated with the rise of an evil minion of Satan named Hitler. Under demonic possession Hitler once again attempted to exterminate the Jewish people, stopping God’s prophetic purpose for His people. This actually led to the Jews returning to the promised land, as Scripture said they would. We read in Revelation Satan’s final attempt to destroy the Jewish people through the Anti-christ, one last attempt to make God a liar, and stop God’s prophetic plan. As you read the Book…you will see this fails also. No man, nor can Satan himself, stop what God has declared. So, my brothers and sisters, stand confident and unafraid in the promise of God for you as His child!
Please share your thoughts from today’s reading.
TOMORROW’S READINGS…Ezra 4:7-8:36
Comments