Hope Beyond Reason

 

 

“For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

-Romans 15:4 NASB

 

This instruction came from the written teaching of God through His appointed men and women that are included in the Bible. This instruction was and should still be the teaching of Christian doctrine that extends to lifestyle application. 

 

Applying what God says in the Bible as learned from Him through the reading and studying of the Bible and listening to sound teaching and preaching on it keeps a Christian steady in his or her loyalty to faith and godliness, even when going through the biggest trials of life. Applying Christian doctrine from the Bible provides comfort and encouragement because of God calling and speaking peace to the believers through His Spirit dwelling in them. This steadfastness of faith and encouragement, both gifts given by the Spirit, provide hope during trials and reminds us of our ultimate and unchanging hope of being children of God through salvation. 

 

This hope goes beyond human understanding and surpasses any trial or tribulation of the believer. It is greater than the laws of nature and beyond human rationale. It is holding on to what is sure. 

 

When a large hole is in the hull of a ship and hope sways to despair, believers can continue to hold onto God at that moment and for the future. They can receive encouragement and perseverance so they don’t lose hope. Even when our lives seem to have a gaping hole and is foundering, we have hope that God has a plan for that moment, a plan of imminent and ultimate rescue because we are His children. God still carries us in His hands. He never leaves or forsakes us. So have hope. Have faith. God is with you; His Spirit dwells in you. Trust Him.

Attaining Hope

In this Bible study series of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we have learned the city of Colossae had a Christian community mixed among Greeks, Romans, Jews, and Phrygians. Each people group had their own culture, religions, and thoughts. The Greco-Roman philosophical thoughts mixed with religious ideas created the earliest form of Gnosticism. Gnosticism is a religious belief that all matter is evil and spiritual is good. Ancient Gnostics believed the way to salvation was through advanced thought. They proclaimed their so-called advanced Christianity and caused confusion and speculation about its validity. (see Background of Paul's Letter to the Church at Colossae)

Before he began to encourage and teach the Christians in Colossae, they needed to know who he was so they would know they could trust what he would tell them. They needed to identify with him and Timothy. Paul began his letter to these Christians in Colossae identifying himself and Timothy by their common faith and their common area of residence (vs 1-2). Both Paul and Timothy grew up in Asia Minor where Colossae was located. Paul told the Colossian Christians he and Timothy identified with Christ Jesus, just as they did. (see Identification)

In Colossians 1:3-8, Paul prayed and gave thanks for the Colossian Christians. He thanked God for their growth in faith in their love for God and the saints. Paul wrote that they bore fruit and matured in their faith. He made known he, too, knew Epaphras, their founding pastor and teacher, because he himself discipled Epaphras. He identified Epaphras as one who knows Jesus Christ, too, and said he taught them the Gospel truthfully. Epaphras is a “beloved fellow bond-servant” of Christ. (see Thanksgiving in Colossians)

Paul continued to pray for the Colossian Christians in Colossians 1:9-12. In this passage, he prayed for the Colossians to grow in Christ so they would be well-pleasing to God. Paul prayed God would fill them with the knowledge of His will with spiritual wisdom and understanding. He prayed the Colossian believers would bear fruit of good works and asked God to increase their knowledge of Him. Paul asked the Lord to strengthen them with His power and give them steadfastness and patience, too. At the end of his prayer, he asked that God give the Christians in Colossae joyous thanksgiving to and for Him who qualified them to inherit eternal life with the saints and the Son in His kingdom. (see Glorious Might)

In verses thirteen and fourteen, Paul explained who this Father is of whom he spoke in verse twelve. He explained the Father is the One who will give them the gifts for which he prayed for the Colossian Christians. The Father is the one who rescued the Colossian believers and any person who trusts in Jesus for salvation. Paul explained the Father rescues and transfers those who believe in Jesus as the Son of God from Satan’s grip and transfers them to the Son’s kingdom. These two verses told the Colossians what the Father can and wants to do. With the end of verse fourteen, Paul segued to who the Son is. (see Snatched and Delivered)

The Bible study of Colossians 1:15-20 (Superabundant Peace) told what Paul taught about who Jesus is. He told the Colossians that Jesus is the exact embodiment of God. He and the Father are of the same mind. Paul explained Jesus is preeminent over all created things. Jesus always existed and created all things with the Father and Spirit ex nihilo, out of nothing. Because of this, Jesus is greater than all created things, including angels, whom the Gnostics proclaimed were greater than Jesus. Jesus created all things and, in His wisdom, knowledge, and strength, holds all things together. Paul wrote that Jesus is the head of the body, the Church. He explained Jesus was more than these; He is the firstborn of the dead. Jesus came back to life and still exists so He will be first among all things, alive and dead, and visible and invisible. The Father, with pleasure, shared His fullness (His superabundance) with the Son. He enabled the reconciliation of people to Him through Christ Jesus. Paul explained how holy God reconciled sinful people to Himself. For the reconciliation of every person, Jesus gave His life as the sacrifice for the death penalty each one deserves because of their sins. Anyone who believes Jesus is the Son of God and confesses of his or her sins, He will save from their sins and death. By doing this, Jesus made peace with God possible.

If…Then

With Colossians 1:21-23, Paul continued his teaching about Jesus Christ. These three verses tell what Christ has done and will do for believers if they believe in Him. Verses fifteen through twenty told of who He is in relation to God, the universe, and the church. With the next three verses, Paul taught about what Jesus would do for them by using a common form of teaching, the conditional statement. Most people understand conditional statements. Basically, they say, “If you will do this, then I will do that.” Biblical scholars call this teaching tool “If…then” protasis and apodosis. Protasis is the clause that has the condition, you must do something to get something. Apodosis tells what you get if you keep to your side of the bargain.

In verses 15-20, Paul explained what the apodosis is (what people will get from Jesus) if the Colossians and other people will do something (the protasis). If people will believe in Jesus as the Son of God and repent of their sins (the protasis) then Jesus will save them from their sins (apodosis). Paul said Jesus did this for the believers of Colossae because He is the image of God, preeminent over creation, the Creator of all things, firstborn from the dead, the Head of the church, the One who has the fullness of God in Him, and has His purposes-to reconcile all things to Himself. (Colossians 1:15-20) Let’s look closer to see who the Colossian Christians were before reconciliation, what Jesus did for them, and what the Colossian Christians had to do as their part of this conditional clause (covenant).

You were…

“And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds…” (Col. 1:21 [NASB])

 When Paul began writing this conditional statement, he knew he clearly had to remind the Colossians Christians who they were before they believed in Jesus as God’s Son. They, and we, need reminding of our sinfulness. That will remind each of us of God’s grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness.

Paul said the Colossian believers formerly had alienated themselves. This verb comes from the Greek word apallotrioo and means to estrange or separate oneself from someone. Before they believed in Jesus as the Son of God, the Colossian Christians had willfully estranged themselves from God by doing what they wanted. Until they acted on the gift of faith God gave them, they had no strength to combat the temptations to willfulness. Human strength is imperfect against Satan’s temptations. Only Christ’s strength gives people victory. This verse recalls to us verse thirteen where Paul said, “He rescued us from the domain of darkness.”

Paul told the Colossians they were more than willfully alienating themselves from God. They hostilely combated Him in their minds. The mind and heart are where temptation strikes first. Our minds might say, I want that, or I have a right to it. Our hearts, with its desires, agree. This illustrates a hostile mind. This mind separates us from God because, by reasoning with our human mind and heart’s desires, often we do things opposite of God’s plans. With this statement, Paul showed the early Gnostics’ belief about philosophical thoughts giving a person an advanced Christianity was contrary to God’s plan. With hostile minds, he said they engaged in evil deeds, the things about which Paul prayed in verses six and ten. These Colossian Christians, before they believed in Jesus, alienated themselves from God in heart, mind, and spirit. These caused them to act immorally and separate them from God. Sin affects the four parts of each human.

Yet He did...

“Yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.” [NASB]

 What did Jesus do? He gave the apodosis. The apodosis is denoted with the word “yet”. Paul said Jesus “has reconciled,” the Colossian Christians. This verb, reconciled, means Jesus provides what each sinner needs to change from one state to another, a 180-degree turn. Jesus makes each person righteous, taking them from the position of a sinner to one who is cleansed from all unrighteousness. He did this with His crucifixion and resurrection. His reconciliation continues to affect people now. Jesus reconciles and keeps reconciling because people continue to sin until they get to heaven. Once a person gets to heaven, He makes them perfect. This reconciliation is the same as the “redemption” in verses fourteen and twenty. Reconciliation occurs because of the price Jesus paid for each person who believes in Him. He bought each person who trusts in Him out of bondage to sin and death and made them clean and righteous in the sight of God. Reconciliation means Jesus mediated with God for all people. His sinless life, death, and resurrection was the mediation for each person. It enabled our reconciliation to holy God. Jesus’ redeeming us, His paying the price for our sins, reconciled us to God if we trust He is the Son of God and repent of our sins. Jesus completely changed us from one state to another, from sinner to saved, a cleansed child of God.

The important part is how Jesus did this. Nothing else has ever nor would ever be enough of a sacrifice to cleanse us from the stain of our sins and release us from the grip of Satan and death, eternal separation from God. Christians do not need Gnostic thought on advanced Christianity. Jesus sacrifice is enough. Paul said Jesus reconciled us “through his fleshly body.” He had to become a man, to live as a man, never to submit to temptation, to die as a man for the sins of all humanity, and then to rise as the victorious Son of God. He had to be 100% man and 100% divinity for the sacrifice to be perfect for our redemption and reconciliation. Only God could do this. Only He could be God and be in human form. No person can make him or herself God and offer the perfect sacrifice for his or her sins. God, in His three persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, desires for us to accept the reconciliation He gives.

Jesus’ sacrifice occurred so He could present us before God. For no one else in creation do we need to be holy except before holy God. When Paul said, “to present you before Him,” this literally means to stand before the face of God. Without Jesus’ sacrifice, we could never be face to face with God because holiness and sinfulness cannot be in the same place just as light and darkness cannot be in the same place. Jesus gave us this hope that He laid up for us in heaven (vs 5). He qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light (vs 12). Jesus makes each believer in Him “blameless and beyond reproach”. He makes us unconvictable for our sins because He paid the price for our cleansing and release from Satan’s grip. To be face to face with holy God, we must be “blameless and beyond reproach”.

Jesus justified and made each believer righteous and continues to do this for each person who trusts in Him. What Jesus does, He does fully. No half-measures occur. Nothing can ever snatch us from God’s hands. When Jesus saves us, He saves us for eternity. God had to do the reconciling of people to Himself, unlike what the Gnostics taught with their intellectual reasoning.

If you will…

“If indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.” [NASB]

 This trifold conditional statement unfolds like this.  You Colossians were, but Jesus will, if you will. We’ve studied the first two folds of the conditional statement. What did Paul teach the Colossian Christians and us later Christians we must do and be sure of for Him to redeem and reconcile us?

With the first words of this side of the conditional statement (protasis), Paul said, “if indeed” you count yourself as saved. He then adds three things that should occur in your life. “Indeed” comes from the Greek word ge which emphasizes the word to which it adjoins. “Indeed” adjoins “if.” The part Paul emphasized was “If.” He used the antithesis to emphasize his point. If you are not a Christian who is “firmly established” is the antithesis. Remember, people taught philosophical thought and Gnosticism as the better way to live. Paul pointed out only Jesus provides the salvation sufficient for your reconciliation to God, resurrection from the dead, and eternity in heaven. Gnostics considered resurrection from the dead disgusting because they considered the body evil, so resurrection did not happen. Paul’s use of the antithesis to emphasize leads us to understand his words this way. “If indeed you are a Christian who continues in your faith in Jesus Christ, this means three things.”

What are the three things that prove a person has Christian faith? First, let’s understand what Paul meant by “continue in your faith.” For the people of Paul’s day, “continue” meant they persevered no matter what. Perseverance is more than endurance. Perseverance is endurance lived out. Paul meant these Colossian Christians, and all Christians, continuously would persevere in their faith, the deep conviction and trust that Jesus is the Son of God. He said, “If indeed you continue in your faith” three things will be evident.

Paul stated, “your faith will be firmly established.” He uses building metaphors in this passage. Firmly established faith comes from Jesus laying the foundation of your faith. He speaks truth and is Truth. Truth makes a building stable and grounded in the soul, unlike what the Gnostics tried to convince them. As Paul prayed for the Colossian Christians in verses three through twelve, we must make our faith established firmly by holding onto the faith, maturing, and bearing fruit. We must work out what Christ has put in us. (Philippians 2:12-13)

Added to this, Paul said, “your faith will be steadfast.” This word “steadfast” comes from the Greek word hedraios meaning to be solidly based and morally fixed. It gives Christians a firm purpose in mind and action. It makes us immovable from the faith and truth in which we first believed. When our faith is steadfast, no matter what happens to us, we will not forget God loves us and Jesus gives us the victory. No matter what happens, we have the hope of our salvation and life eternally in God’s kingdom. Our foundation will rest on the Truth, Jesus Christ. It will stay secure and steadfast no matter what comes against it. Nothing can shake us from the foundation of our faith. Paul prayed for the Colossian Christians to be steadfast in their faith in verse twelve.

The third thing that will be evident in the life of the Christian, Paul said, is their faith will “not move away from the hope.” What did Paul mean with this combination of words? “Moved away” means to dislodge, like a building built poorly so its walls fell. What is this hope? Hope is being sure of that to which you hold or on which you stand. The Gospel gives this hope. With this hope, Christians will remain unmoved from Christ, the Truth and the Life. Nothing can snatch us out of God’s hands. We have the joyful anticipation of being with Him forever and His being with us now to make our faith grow and to keep us strong despite storms that come against us. Understand, these three things do not make a person a Christian, but they are fruit from a person who has given his or her life to Jesus and that life has grown these fruit as her or she grew in their knowledge, wisdom, and understanding from, and strength through God.

This Gospel is nothing new, but “was proclaimed in all creation under heaven.” Every created thing proclaims the Gospel, God’s love for humanity and desire to have a saving relationship with us. He formed all creation (vs 16). Every living thing declares His might, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Each living thing bears testimony to God’s sovereignty. In Romans 1:20 [NASB], Paul said, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they (the ungodly and unrighteous) are without excuse (for not believing).” God made Himself evident in creation as He created, as He walked in the Garden of Eden, as He worked in and for His people in the Old Testament, as He walked among us in the form of Jesus, as He rose victorious from the grave, and as He saves and lives in those who have faith to trust in Him as the Son of God. To this, Jesus made Paul a minister for Him.

Formerly, the Colossian Christians sinned and alienated themselves from God. They became hostile against Him in mind and in deed. Then, He made a way for their reconciliation to Himself. Christ reconciles each person who trusts He came in the form of a man, while wholly divine, to die a bodily death and be resurrected to life to give salvation and eternal life. He does this to present each believer in front of God as holy and blameless and without reproach. God will not find sin and the stain of sin on any believer. This happens if we have firmly established faith in Jesus that is steadfast and immovable from the hope the gospel of Jesus Christ gives.

Thoughts to Consider:

This world is full of philosophies, conspiracy theories, hate, evil, religions, and cultures. Many options satisfy the heart, mind, and body and cause them to think those options are truth. When Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians, angelology, Gnosticism, and other cultures and thoughts existed besides faith in Jesus, newly planted in Colossae but established in creation by God. These thoughts, cultures, and religions vied to gain acolytes. To be better than Christianity, the Gnostics wove a web of thought to convince Christians their ways were better than what Epaphras taught them. Though the Colossian Christians battled these things, Paul said he was pleased to hear a good report about them and their faith. He prayed for their faith. With these three verses from today’s study, Paul reminded the Colossian believers of who they once were and of Christ, who they believed for salvation. Next, he reminded the Colossian Christians their faith is established on Christ, the foundation, and is steadfast and immovable. Finally, Paul said they had the hope Jesus gave them through their faith in Him. He interwove these three verses with his prayers for them in verses three through fourteen. He returned to who Christ is and how He is the Redeemer from verses fifteen through twenty.

Today, decide if you will accept the salvation Christ offers. Ask yourself if you will uphold and enact the conditional statement and make a covenant with God. If you are already a Christian, examine your life to see if you have a faith firmly established, steadfast, and unmoved from the hope of the Gospel.

Questions to ask yourself:

·         Unbeliever, will you examine your heart, mind, and soul?

o   Do you now recognize Jesus is the Son of God?

o   Will you accept His gift of salvation and give your life to Him?

o   Will you grow in your new faith and mature producing fruit of that Gospel to which you professed?

·         Christian, will you examine your life to see if you have the true faith?

o   Are you firmly established with Christ as your foundation?

o   Are you steadfast so that nothing can move you from Christ?

o   Are you sure of your hope of the gospel so that whatever comes against you will not remove your hope and testimony in Jesus?

For next week, read Colossians 1 again and pay particular attention to verses 24-29.

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh, I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.” [NASB]

Identification

The people of Colossae lived in a mixed bag of cultures, philosophical thoughts, and religions. They lived in an area called Asia Minor, specifically the Lycus River valley, where a major crossroad traversed from east to west. The Babylonians, Romans, Jews, and Greeks influenced the lives of the people. To these people in the 1^st century AD, Paul wrote while imprisoned. About the Christians in Colossians, he heard good things and things about which he needed to teach and correct.

As Paul almost always did in his letters, he gives a foreshadowing of his teaching in the opening statements. He opens with by introducing himself (vs 1), giving a greeting (vs 2), then praying over the Colossian brethren (vs 3-8). That prayer of thanksgiving leads directly into the principal topic and teaching of this letter.

The Greeting

Identification with the Sender

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother…” (Colossians 1:1 [NASB])

Paul introduced himself to the believers in Colossae. Though he had spent extended time in Asia Minor on his 2^nd and 3^rd missionary journeys, he had never been to Colossae. It was during one of those journeys, probably the 3^rd journey, that Paul discipled Epaphras, the founder and pastor of the Colossian church. What is important about Paul’s introduction of himself to the Colossians are the credentials he gave? He told them first he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. An apostle of Christ is an ambassador of the Gospel commissioned by Jesus Christ to go preach. Paul was sent out by Christ. The authority for his apostleship came from Christ. Remember his Damascus road experience in Acts 9. Christ called and sent out Paul as an ambassador of the Gospel. As an apostle of Christ, Paul was identified with Christ.

The next part of verse one says he was an apostle of Christ by the will of God. Paul had not decided on his own to be an ambassador, an apostle. God willed it. He chose Saul even while he persecuted the people of the Way, the Jesus-followers. God had a purpose to use Saul, later known as Paul, to reach the Gentile world. When Saul met Jesus on the Damascus road, he became a completely changed man with a new agenda. His life turned around 180 degrees from persecuting Christians to proclaiming the Gospel, from taking the lives of believers to leading them to the Source of Life, and from enforcing every jot and tittle of the Law to reinforcing believers by teaching the Gospel as given to Him by God. Paul repented, he turned 180 degrees from facing away from Jesus to facing and following Him.

Paul never went alone to where Jesus led him to proclaim the “mystery of God.” Another believer traveled with him, whether that person was a believer before Paul met him or her or that believer became a Christian because of Paul’s proclamation. Paul dedicated his life to learning and mentoring other believers. On a journey in which men arrested him, Paul identified with the person who resided with him. On this journey, Timothy was with him. Paul called Timothy “our brother by God’s will.” The people of Asia Minor either knew Timothy or knew of him. Timothy’s family raised him in Lystra about 360 miles east of Colossae. His grandmother and mother, who were Jewish and later became Christians (2 Timothy 1:5), and his Greek father raised him with the knowledge of Jewish Scriptures. Paul took Timothy with him on his journeys and mentored him. Timothy was a companion, mentee, and co-worker of Paul.

Why was it important for Paul to tell the Colossian believers about himself and Timothy? Paul wanted these believers to understand that he identified with Christ. Christ appointed him as His ambassador. Paul wanted the Colossian believers to realize who Timothy was, too. Timothy identified with Christ, as one saved by Him and called to service for Him. 

Identification with the Recipients

“To the saints and faithful brethren who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.” (Colossians 1:2 [NASB])

Paul wanted the believers in Colossae to realize he and Timothy identified with them, as well as with Christ. How do we know Paul wanted the believers in Colossae to identify with him and Timothy?  He wrote to the “saints and faithful brethren in Christ.” Paul made known to whom he was writing. He wrote to the saints. Saints are people set apart by God, those whom He made holy by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus’ death. Paul and Timothy were saints, too, as he explained in verse one. Paul added the Colossian Christians were faithful brethren in Christ. “Faithful” comes from the Greek word pistos meaning one who is persuaded and who has the fullness of faith about Jesus. Paul wrote to the ones who received faith from God and believed it to the full, without doubt. He called them brethren, too. A person of the brethren is a person who is a member of the same religious community of others who believe similarly, in this case people who believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. With these titles for the believers at Colossae, Paul said they identified with Christ as saints set apart by God’s redeeming grace. The Colossian believers identified as faithful because the faith they received they had in full and lived based on it. They identified as brethren who were actively part of the community of Christ in Colossae. The Colossian Christians, Paul, and Timothy identified with each other as followers of Christ. Saints identify upwards with God, and brethren identify horizontally with other Christians.

Paul added a blessing to his salutation. He said, “Grace to you and peace from God.” This blessing from Paul meant “May God’s undeserved favor be on you.” This quietness and rest of heart, soul, mind, and body is the peace that comes knowing, fully trusting, God will take care of you. This trust requires full faith as saints. It requires being identified with Christ through His life, death, and resurrection.

The Colossae church comprised Jews and Gentiles. Paul was a Jew from Tarsus in Asia Minor called by Christ to preach to the Gentiles and Jews. Timothy was a man raised as a Jew by his family and was a Greek because of his father. Yet, more than these, Paul and Timothy were Christians. They identified with Christ and with the Colossian Christians. The Colossian believers could identify with Paul and Timothy as saints and faithful brethren in Christ and as Jews and Greeks of Asia Minor.  Their identification was heavenly and earthly. Paul and Timothy’s identification with Christ and the people of Colossae gave them the right and privilege to preach, teach, and correct the heresies flowing around the Colossian believers. The Colossian believers would trust what Paul taught them as from God and out of love for God and them.

Thoughts to Consider

Paul gave the Colossian Christians his credentials. He showed them how he was like them in several ways, as a saint and part of the brethren. Paul included Timothy as part of his greeting to tell of his credentials, that he, too, is a Christian called by God and from Asia Minor. His blessing of this church in Colossae reminded them of who God is and for them. It served as a springboard for Paul’s purpose in writing this letter.

• Does God still call people to teach and correct the beliefs of others, especially Christians who have become lost in the whirlpool of cultures, philosophical thoughts, and faiths?
• Would people consider your credentials as highly as Paul’s, as saint and brother, because of your faith, and your actions and words that came from your faith?
• Are you like the Colossian Christians who heard the Gospel, but allowed other cultures, philosophies, and faiths to enter your reasoning and potentially water-down your faith?
• How do you think the Colossian believers will react to what Paul will teach them in this letter?
• How would you react since you have read this letter from Paul?
• Why do you think Paul put a heavy emphasis on brethren, faithful, saints, apostle, and brother?

Paul knew why God had him write to a people to whom he never physically preached or taught. His relationship with God prepared him to be His instrument even from prison to teach, correct, and proclaim the Gospel of Christ. With Colossians 1:3-8, we will learn of the Christian triad of faith, love, and hope. Were the Colossian Christians in danger of losing one side of this triad because of other cultures, philosophies, and faith systems? Paul prepared them for his correction of their confusion. What must we do so as not to be confused and or water-down the faith that we originally received and believed?

For next week, re-read Colossian 1:1-8. Be prepared to answer these questions again after re-reading those verses.

“May you give thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.” (Colossians 1:9, 12 [NASB])

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Intimate Assurance

“The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and He will make them know His covenant.” Psalm 25:14 [NASB]

This verse, translated from Hebrew, means the intimacy of the Lord or the friendship of the Lord is for those who fear Him, who are in awe of and reverence Him, and He makes known to them His covenant, His pledge to His people. David avowed to God he had an intimate friendship with the Lord because of his awe of Him and their covenant of faithfulness to each other. To David, what made a person intimate with the Lord and in a covenant with Him? He recorded from verses four through twelve who the person is that is a friend of God.

In verses four and five, and expanded in verse eight and nine, God teaches His friend His ways and paths. This assumes the friend of God yearns to have God in his or her life and seeks Him to grow closer to Him.  In verses four and five, David desired to know God-His ways, paths, and truth. He expressed his desire was so great he would wait for God all day. With verses eight and nine, David proclaimed God is good and upright and so He willingly and desirously wants to teach sinners, all people, His way. God desires to have a relationship with all people, not just the ones who are good, or who think they are good. David foreshadowed the Messiah’s coming for all people because God wants to have a relationship, a covenant with everyone. With verse nine, he said, “God leads the humble in justice and teaches the humble His way.” As a person draws closer to God, that person becomes renewed in the image of God and is humble. God continues to teach that person to transform him or her into Himself-to make him or her humble. As the person learns more, he or she learns to care for other people. Justice, like that of God’s, becomes what the person seeks for every person.

David continued to describe the person who desires to be in an intimate friendship of covenant faithfulness with God in verse six and ten. In verse six, he recognized his sinfulness and neediness, and remembered God’s everlasting compassion and lovingkindness towards Him and throughout history. God’s lovingkindness (His goodness, kindness, and faithfulness) David recognized and stood in awe of. Then, with verse ten, he said these paths of God, of lovingkindness and truth, are available for those people who keep His covenant and testimonies. To each person who desires God and seeks to be in an intimate friendship with Him, God leads in His ways, He teaches and instills in the person, His goodness, kindness, faithfulness, and His truth (truth of His faithfulness, stability, and continuance). To each person who comes to God, He leads them to know and learn, and then to become like Him with His characteristics of truth, compassion, faithfulness, goodness, and kindness. David desired an intimate friendship with God. He desired that which God freely gave to him to become part of his own being. David wanted to live out in the world what God gave to him, these characteristics. He wanted to keep this covenant with God by sharing with the world about God and what God put into him when He renewed him.

With verses seven and eleven, David recognized he was a sinner. He understood God is the One who can forgive and cleanse all people from their sins so they can be in a relationship with Him, be made new in His image. He asked the Lord not to remember his sins, but in His goodness, kindness, and faithfulness remember Him with love and cleanse Him. David went further in verse eleven. He recognized he could not save himself and pleaded with the Lord, because of His glorious name’s sake, to pardon his great sin. David realized his sins were all against the Lord; they separated him from God. He recognized God’s great love and wanted His glory proclaimed continually so asked for forgiveness so the world would hear again of His goodness and faithfulness.

David ended this segment of Psalm 25 with a rhetorical question that pointed to his thematic statement. He said, “Who is the man who fears and awes the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.” The person who awes and reverences the Lord is the one who seeks to be with God and is the one to whom God teaches His paths and ways. This person is the one who chooses God’s ways out of lovingkindness, that is goodness, kindness, and faithfulness, for Him.

The person who fears the Lord in awe and reverence is the one in an intimate friendship with Him and seeks to know and follow Him. That person chooses to be faithful to his or her pledge/promise of love to God. That person chooses God above all others.

Are you one of those people?

Have you recognized your sinfulness and separation from God?

Are you humble because of following the Lord, His ways, His teachings, and His paths?

Do you seek justice and truth?

Are you good, kind, and faithful because of God’s goodness, kindness, and faithfulness to you?

Do you crave and seek God in an intimate friendship?

Are you faithful to God and His covenant faithfulness to you?

Are you this person who fears the Lord? If you are, the intimate friendship with the Lord is yours and you have no need other than to be in His presence. Your eyes will continually be toward the Lord (vs 15). You will rest in assurance nothing can pluck you from His hand, neither loneliness or affliction, troubles or distresses, nor sins or enemies.

v  You know with assurance God is your Guard and Deliverer; He is your             refuge.

v  You will wait with assurance that God’s integrity and uprightness will preserve you.

You will wait with assurance for your covenant God because of His goodness, kindness, faithfulness, and compassion to you, and yours to Him. He redeems His own.

God doesn’t only seek the good and right. Jesus said He came for the sick. He came to call the sinners (Mark 2:17). God wants to be in a relationship with each of us. He makes sinners clean. God is intimate with the upright (Proverbs 3:32). He is the one who makes each of us upright (Psalm 25:7 & 10). Just as the Lord spoke to Moses as a friend, He sought Him out and Moses craved Him (Exodus 33:11), so today God desires to be in a covenant (a faithful, intimate friendship) with you.

Lord, God almighty, I do not deserve anything You offer to me. Yet, You keep calling to me to come to You. Lord, I do not understand this great love and mercy of Yours, still, I am drawn to You. I am sinful and should not be near You. Cleanse me so I can come before You. Draw me into an intimate friendship with You for which I can never be sated so that I continue to desire You. Don’t let me go. Keep calling to my heart. Thank you for Your patient calling to me, that you never gave up on me. Thank you for your unending love, mercy, and faithfulness. I am Yours; draw me to You and never let me go. My heart I give to You forevermore. Amen.

Alert and Committed

Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

(1 Cor 16:13 [NASB])

We have arrived at the end of the first week of January 2016. Have you remained committed to your objectives and goals so far?

We each are weak and fail in some of our goals in life whether it be to eat better, exercise more, be aware and help the needy, read our Bibles and pray, or be a better family member. Each of us proved ourselves unfaithful to our own goals and objectives at some point already this year. We are human – fallible and sinful.

Paul closed his first letter to the Corinthians reminding and encouraging them to be alert and stand firm in the faith. He told them to be cautious to keep the faith and be active in their faith - put into action their love for God by obeying Him.

Paul also encouraged and reminded them to act like men and be strong. They were to be brave like men and take a stand for God. Since the Corinthian believers came from the midst of a Gentile (non-Jewish) background and were surrounded by a pantheon of gods worshipped by their neighbors and the Roman Empire, it would be easy to slip back into their old ways. Paul challenged and encouraged them to be like brave and strong men and take a stand for Christ in their lives. Even when everyone around them worshipped other gods and ridiculed them, stand brave and strong in their faith in Jesus Christ, Paul instructed.

Considering what Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians, how active is your faith? Do you stand firm when others around you do not live a Christian life or when they mock yours? Are you strong in your faith in the face of ridicule, slander, and persecution?

Paul was no stranger to persecution. He was a prime example for the Corinthian Christians on what it looks like to be active, firm, brave, and strong in the faith.

Will you listen to and receive encouragement from Paul to be active in your faith?

Will you stand firm in your faith in Jesus Christ today, tomorrow, this week?

Will you be brave in the face of adversity and be strong in your faith in God?

Stay committed to God.

He is committed to you.

Thanksgiving – Drawing Attention to God

¹Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.

²Serve the LORD with gladness;
 Come before Him with joyful singing.

³Know that the LORD Himself is God;
            It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
            We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

⁴Enter His gates with thanksgiving
            And His courts with praise.
 Give thanks to Him,

bless His name.

      ⁵For the LORD is good;
            His lovingkindness is everlasting
            And His faithfulness to all generations. (Psalm 100 [NASB])

In these five verses, David expressed thanks to God. David exhorted the people of God - Israel and all who followed God by faith - to thank the LORD, too. Who God is and what He has done overwhelm David and cause him to pour out thanks to God. Who God is and what He has done has not changed over the millennia and so God’s people today have cause to thank God, too.

In these verses, David gave six exhortations. He told God’s people to shout, serve, come before, enter, give thanks, and bless. By themselves, these actions are meaningless. When seen in relation to or for whom they are done, great meaning occurs.

In each of these exhortations, David said the actions were to be done for the LORD. David mentioned the LORD by name in verse one and referred to Him throughout the text. He reflects on the LORD – who He is and what He has done - in verses three and five. Let us consider the six exhortations and reflections closer.

“Shout joyfully to the LORD,” David urged. This was not just making a loud racket with no purpose. Shouting is not an inward action. It draws people’s attentions to someone or something. The tone of voice and words said while shouting leads listeners to consider something or someone and possibly act in response to the shouting. David told them to shout joyfully. Here the people were to shout out with joy as applause toward the LORD – Yehovah, the “existing One.” David led people with his words to worship and praise the LORD because of the joy He caused in and gave them.

Next, David told the people to serve the LORD with gladness. Serving requires recognition that someone is greater than one’s self or is worthy to be considered greater than one’s self. It is personal submission before another and working for that other person. In this verse, David told the LORD’s people to serve the LORD. Their service was not with reluctance, but with gladness. With joy and pleasure, the LORD’s people are enhorted to serve the LORD as a result of being filled with joy.

As the LORD’s people shout joyfully to the LORD and serve Him with gladness, they are to come before Him with joyful singing. The LORD’s people can be in His presence. He accepts them as His own and wants them with Him singing and shouting joyfully. The LORD is not distant and unapproachable neither does He want reluctant service. He wants his people to be joyful and full of gladness. To be joyful and glad, people need a reason and the LORD gives them the reason – Himself.

David noted the reason the LORD”s people are joyful and glad in verse three. He said, “The LORD Himself is God.” Know this, David said. The LORD is God. The existent One from before time began is big “G” God, the God of gods. No other being is God. Know that. Perceive, recognize, admit, acknowledge, and confess the LORD - the One you know from your history - is God. “He made us,” David said. “We did not make ourselves.” God was here before us, and powerful and wise enough to make humankind. He chose us as His own and cared for us just as a shepherd chooses and cares for his sheep. God protected us. Just as God is from before time, He continues into the future. We are His and He protects and cares for us. For who God is - the
“existent One before time” and Creator - and for what He has done - created, chose, protected, and provided, David said we can shout with joy, serve the LORD with a glad and joyful heart, and come before Him singing joyfully.

Because we are the LORD’s people - His children - we can enter His gates and courts. We are not just servants or “the created,” we are His and He enjoys our presence. God wants a relationship with each of us and provided the way for us to be in an eternal relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. Those who are His children through Jesus Christ are in an eternal relationship with Him and can enter His gates and courts with thanks and praise. God made the way for us to be with Him because of His love. Our thanks cannot be contained, but must pour forth from our mouths in shouts and songs. Praises to God for who He is and what He did pour forth proclaiming Him with joy and gladness.

Give thanks to Him and bless His name. Humble yourself and admit God gave you what you have – life, provision, relationship with Him, eternal life with Him, and Himself. These come to you because of His love, goodness, and mercy, not from anything you did or could have done. Give thanks to Him! He deserves it because of who He is and what He has done. What more to do then? Bless the LORD’s name. Bless – kneel adore, and praise Him. Bless His name that leaves such a reputation of greatness and love. Bless Him that His reputation is justifiable and true. On the LORD’s fame and reputation humankind can count and hold onto knowing God is faithful, steadfast, loving, and true.

With a final thought, David said we shout with joy and cry out with song to draw others to the LORD and worship Him in His gates and courts because of His goodness. The LORD is good. His lovingkindness and faithfulness to all generations is everlasting. God is the embodiment of all things good, excellent, and right. God does only good and right things. His being is only good and righteous. From His goodness comes His lovingkindness and faithfulness forever. God’s lovingkindness is shown through His mercy, kindness, faithfulness, loyal actions, and unchanging love. His faithfulness is unending and He is fully trustworthy. God is steadfastly loyal to His people. Because of God’s goodness, excellence, faithfulness, mercy, and trustworthiness, we shout for joy and sing joyfully to the LORD. Come now and know the LORD; He is good. His love endures forever.

David’s psalm of thanksgiving led him to shout and sing out about the LORD. It continues to lead people to recognize the LORD as God and as the giver of all good and excellent things. They then will shout out and sing with joy and praise to the LORD until all creation is caught up in the offering of thanks to the LORD God, the holy and eternal God of gods and King of kings. What begins with one man shouting out and singing with joy and praise leads to harmonious voices rising together in joy and praise of God. One begets many. If one does not begin to sing of God’s praises, how will others know Him?

Thanksgiving is one day set aside to remember and call attention to God. We draw attention to God by shouting out with joy and crying out with song in praise of who God is and what He has done. Hopefully Thanksgiving is not the only day we shout and sing with joy and gladness to the LORD for Who He is and what He has done. The attention of people around us should be drawn to God when we serve others. His joy should be evident in our hearts by our love, kindness, and mercy during those times. When we enter His house – His place of worship - each week, the attention of people should be drawn to God by our worship of Him and by our relationships with other believers there. Joy and gladness should be seen in our love, mercy, and forgiveness toward other believers. Whether we are among other believers or out in the world, God’s love and faithfulness should be seen and experienced by people in our encounters with them. They should be able to experience God through us. When that happens, these other people can experience and recognize God. They can then join us shouting out and singing with joy and thanksgiving to the LORD. Our shouts and songs of joy and praise testify about the LORD. Others will hear and know the LORD and join us in the procession of shouting joyfully to the LORD and singing with gladness and joy about Him. One voice leads to other voices. Your voice leads to other voices declaring the praise to and about the LORD. There is responsibility in this.  Praise the LORD and give thanks for God is good and His love endures forever.

Shout joyfully to the LORD.

Serve the LORD with gladness.

Come before Him with joyful song.

Draw attention to God.

Declare and proclaim His name today – Thanksgiving – and throughout each week so others come to know and confess Him as their God and join us in joyfully blessing and praising His name.

A Heroine for the King

The book of Esther is the only book of the Bible that does not mention God’s name. It makes reference to Him and the Jews live lives that reflect His sovereignty and their faithfulness to Him. It is the story of God’s chosen people, the Israelites, in captivity in Persia under King Ahasuerus, the Hebrew name for King Xerxes (Greek name) or King Khshayarsha (Persian name), who lived from 520-465 BC. His son, King Artexerxes was king during Nehemiah’s time. King Ahasuerus reigned from 486-465BC. Esther, the story of a young woman of God, is set around the years 483-478BC.

Many of us have heard the story of Esther at some point in our lifetime. For women, Esther has become a hero. Esther was a young orphan Jewess who was adopted by her cousin, Mordecai while they lived in captivity in Babylon. The queen of king Ahasuerus was Vashti and her beauty was known throughout the kingdom. One night during a half-year feast, the king wanted to parade his queen and her beauty to his princes and noblemen and so summoned her to him. She refused to attend at the king’s request. Upon advice from his most esteemed nobles, the king dethroned Vashti and searched for a new queen. The king’s eunuchs were sent throughout his provinces to find the most beautiful virgins and bring them to the royal palace. Esther was one of these beautiful virgins. After twelve months being pampered and prepared for her introduction to the king, each girl was brought before the king and spent the night with him after which she would go to the harem of the concubines if she was not chosen to be the new queen. When Esther was presented to the king, the king loved her and she found favor with him more than all the other women who were taken to him. He chose Esther to be his queen.

Along with Esther, the daughter of a Levitical priest, Abahail, the king raised the stature of another person, Haman, the Amalekite, 16^th generational descendent of King Agag. The history between the Israelites and Amalekites had been long by this point. The Amalekites, under king Agag, were the first people to fight against the Israelites at Rephadim after they crossed the Red Sea. This nation of people dogged the Israelites through time. From history we know the Amalekites to be the ancestor of Esau’s grandson, Amalek. Remember Esau from history; he was the one who sold his birthright to Jacob. Esau was famished after being in the field and agreed to give Jacob his birthright for the soup Jacob was cooking. From that point in time, there was animosity between Jacob and Esau and their descendants. The children of the promise, which God gave Abraham, came through Jacob’s line, not Esau’s. Enter the story of Esther and we see one of the reasons for Haman’s hatred of the Jews. The most immediate reason for his hatred was that Mordecai, Esther’s cousin, did not bow and prostrate himself at the feet of Haman as the king commanded and Haman demanded. Haman’s pride could not let that go unpunished.

The story in Esther is about the saving of the Jews from Haman’s treachery. It is also about two people, Esther and Haman, heroine and anti-hero. It is the story of God’s children and other people. What we can see in this book of the Old Testament is two extremes, ancestor of God’s priest versus ancestor of the nemesis of God’s children. If you were looking at it in modern terms, it is the heroine up against her nemesis. However, this is not ultimately the story of the heroine and anti-hero, but of God and the world. To get to this point, we must determine what attributes characterize a child of God and what characterizes a child of the world.

The attributes of God’s children we see through the history told in the Bible, in history books, like Foxe’s Book of Martyr’s, and historical documents are humility, obedience, love of God and other believers, faithfulness, wisdom, service, and charity and this is not an exhaustive list. The attributes of those who are not God’s children can include the list above, but it can also include self-love, hate and anger, hoarding, following worldly desires, drunkenness, debauchery, pride, and other things. With this in mind, let’s look at Esther and Haman.

The best way to characterize a person is by his or her actions, attitudes, and words. Esther entered the story after queen Vashti was removed from her position. Esther was collected by the king’s eunuchs. The first thing we read of Esther’s interactions with another person is Mordecai’s counsel to not tell them who her people and kindred are. Mordecai, being the male head of household for Esther, was heard and his instructions heeded. It is not until chapter 7 that Esther declared her background or her people. Esther was obedient to Mordecai. She is also intelligent and wise. She accepted the counsel of the king’s eunuch who was in charge of her and the other women. Why did this eunuch offer her his professional advice? He did it because she “pleased him and found favor with him” (2:9). Her demeanor and beauty pleased and he held her in esteem. In fact, all who saw her favored her (2:15). When she was presented to the king, she asked only that which the eunuch told her and she found favor and kindness with the king. Esther had won the favor of the people in the palace. She was a favored child of God. After she was made queen, she continued to obey Mordecai and did not reveal her people or kin. She was favored by Mordecai and the Jews, too. Before the anti-hero enters the picture, we read of Mordecai protecting the king by telling of the plot he heard two of the king’s eunuchs plotting at the king’s gate. Mordecai’s name was written down in the king’s book of records.

Next enters Haman. In chapter 3, the king raised the stature of Haman. He advanced Haman above all the princes and nobles in his kingdom. Everyone was commanded to bow down to Haman when he passed. Everyone did bow down and prostrate themselves except Mordecai. When two men at the king’s gate questioned him as to why he would not bow down and pay homage to Haman, Mordecai explained that he was a Jew and was prohibited by Yahweh from bowing before anyone but Him. These two men took this to Haman and asked if this was a viable excuse. Haman, a man after prestige and worldly acknowledgement, had finally been exalted. The king’s command to bow to him and the fact that Mordecai did not because of religious reasons infuriated Haman (3:5). From the Jewish Law, no one was to bow/prostrate him or herself to anyone except Yahweh. Not only was Haman a man and not Yahweh, he was an enemy of the Jews. Haman was smart, though. He knew he could not single out Mordecai for penalty/death; he had to target a whole people, the Jews. He hatched a plan just for that and he waited a whole year (3:6-7) for its fruition. Haman demanded the worship of man which God forbade. Haman was shown as the anti-hero. He is self-absorbed, self-serving, prideful, hateful, and driven by his own worldly desires. God’s ways versus the world’s ways was juxtaposed here.

We continue to read of Esther and Haman as the next year of their lives unfold in the rest of the book. Haman brought a serious charge to the king to allow him to have the Jews exterminated. He did not say it in exactly those words, though. He told the king there was a people who were not living by his laws, but by their own, and that they were decreasing his profits. Any king would not like to have a people in his kingdom who had contempt for his laws and him by association, as well as, were causing him to lose income. Appealing to the worldly side of the king, Haman, without specifying who these people were, received permission to write an edict to get rid of these people. The king gave him his ring, which, when applied to a seal on an edict, made the law irreversible. Notice how Haman approached the king. He appealed to the king’s worldly desires and then couched his request with these words “if it please the king.” He was not appealing to the king based upon his favor with the king and his personal honor; he was unlike Esther, as we will see later. The next time we encounter Haman is after the queen requested the king and Haman to attend a banquet in their honor in her residence in chapter 5. After the banquet, when Haman left the queen’s residence, he saw Mordecai and his anger filled him (5:9). He controlled himself and went home to brag to his wife and friends of his invitation to dine with the king and queen. He also regaled them by boasting of his great wealth, large number of sons, and stature with the king.  Haman was filled with pride, not humility. His last statement in chapter 5 summed up what occurs when we seek our own personal attainments. “Yet all of this does not satisfy me every time I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate" (5:13). Pride makes the possessor unhappy and the irony is that Haman wanted the honor and adoration of the man he despised most. Haman sought after more praise, more wealth, and higher stature/position in the kingdom. He would never be completely satisfied while he was searching for all the world could give him. Additionally, his self-interest blinded him to the facts and feelings of others, the queen, Mordecai, the king, and his own friends.

When we next read of Haman, he is puffed up with his own self-importance. He does not know what the king is thinking. Haman was in the palace on a mission to ask the king for permission to kill Mordecai when he was summoned by the king to advise on how to honor a person. Haman answered the king thinking of himself and how he would like to be honored by the king, assuming the king was thinking about him. Haman wanted ultimate recognition by the king and the people in his kingdom so requests to wear the kings cloak, wear his crown, and ride his horse being led around the city proclaiming this will be “done to the man whom the king desires to honor” (6:9) seemed paramount to getting the top honor by the king. Haman was only after his own interests. Little did he know the king would make him the man who led the horse proclaiming in front of the rider about the honor given to the man riding. Haman was forced to honor Mordecai, the man who would not acknowledge Haman’s stature. Haman had to eat crow. To make matters worse, when Haman arrived home, his wife told him that he will not overcome Mordecai, but would be overthrown by him (6:13).

Haman’s final act with the king and queen arrived. He was invited again to a banquet with the king at the queen’s residence. While there, the king offered to grant a petition for Esther and she made a case for her people which blew up in Haman’s face. The king saw who he really was, a man with no morals who was only after more power and honor. While the king walked outside the banqueting hall, Haman fell prostrate on the queen just as the king reentered. The king challenged him by asking is he already trying to begin his extermination by killing the queen while he is around? The king’s servants grasp Haman and cover his face. In Persian culture at the time, a criminal was so below the king that he could not even look at the king, hence the covering of Haman’s face. When the king found out Haman had a gallows made for Mordecai, he ordered Haman be hanged on it instead. In this story, we saw Haman’s pride, hatred, self-absorption, malevolent scheming, arrogance, abuse of power, and inhumanity in general. We have not seen him treat wisely the power and position which the king gave him. We have seen him scampering, scheming, and scraping to better himself each time we encounter him in the story. Now, let’s consider Esther.

Esther, by the end of chapter 2, had found favor with her people, cousin, eunuch, and king. The favor she found was due not only to her beauty, but to her submissiveness, humility, obedience, knowledge, and wisdom. As we continue to read the story of Esther, we see another action which she did repeatedly throughout the story. We see when she approached the king, she always approached him with humility and appealed to his honor, humanity, and stature. After her initial encounter with the king - finding favor with him, and being proclaimed queen - Esther spoke through servants to Mordecai after Haman’s edict went into all the provinces of the kingdom declaring that on the 15^th of the month in twelve month’s time all Jews were to be killed and their possessions become booty for the killers. Mordecai in chapter 4 put on sackcloth and ashes and went to the king’s gate at which no one was to wear sackcloth. Esther talked to him through servants and sent clothes. Finally, Mordecai implored her to go to the king and plead the case for her people, from whom the king does not know she is comes. At that, Esther told Mordecai that no one could enter the king’s presence without being beckoned or without his staff being extended to them. If he did not extend his staff, the interrupter of the king will be put to death (4:11). She was afraid for her life. Mordecai reminded her who she was and from whose people she came. She was a Jew and represented the Jews. She must stand up for the Jews, God’s chosen people. He told her,

Do not imagine that you in the king's palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?" (4:13-14, [NASB])

If she did not speak, she would die because of the edict. If she went to the king, she could have died. Esther was reminded of who she was, a Jew, and who her God is. Remember, she was not only a queen, but one of God’s chosen people and the daughter of his royal priesthood. She may have been seen with favor by all the people, including her earthly king, for such a time as this, as Mordecai stated. Esther asked that Mordecai ask all the Jews to fast for three days and then she would petition the king. Esther was human, submissive to the male head of household and to the king. She was also submissive to Yahweh God, to walk the road on which He placed her.

            After the three days of fasting, and most probably praying, Esther walked to the chamber outside the throne room and the king extended his scepter. See how Esther phrases her request upon questioning by her loving king who promised to give her up to half his kingdom. She said, "If it pleases the king, may the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him" (5: 4 [NASB])? Esther appealed to his person and position and then make her request, which seemed to be about serving him. She invited him and Haman to a banquet in her quarters. At the banquet, the king offered without her asking, what her request was and he would give it to her (5:6). Esther made another request, "My petition and my request is: if I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and do what I request, may the king and Haman come to the banquet which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king says” (5:8). Esther once again appealed to his care for her along with his desire and stature. She appealed to him as her husband and king then honored him by banqueting with him again. (Some may call this womanly wiles. Whether it is or not, Esther used her gifts and abilities for the service of her King, Yahweh.)

            The next day arrived and the banquet time had come. While they were having wine, the king asked, "What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done" (7:2)? Esther replied,

If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request; for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed and to be annihilated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves , men and women, I would have remained silent, for the trouble would not be commensurate with the annoyance to the king. (7:3-4 [NASB])

Esther still appealed to the king’s favor with her, how he had been pleased by her beauty and her being. She had gained his trust. She was humbly subservient to him, his stature and knowledge, and to his desires/wants. Also, she had saved the life of the king with her message from Mordecai. The next part of her request shocked him. As far as we know, she had never appealed for anything personally before. He had to have noticed and taken this request seriously. The crime he heard shocked him. Esther used many words to describe what Haman did, his contemplated atrocity. She planned her words carefully to get empathy for her people. Her words showed the depth of her emotion and awakened a similar depth in the king. The king trusted her knowledge and advice and probably her discretion. She appealed to her king who then walked outside briefly. When the king walked back into the room after hearing about Haman’s treachery and abuse of power, he confronted Haman while his servants grabbed Haman and covered his face. Esther remained subservient and obedient to her heavenly King, her earthly king, and her head of family. She remained faithful to the three. She remained humble, respectful, wise, and a lover of Yahweh and her people, His chosen children.

            After Haman’s scheme unfolded and the king had him hanged, Mordecai was promoted to second behind the king and given Haman’s ring. Mordecai and Esther can be equated to the story of Joseph who was put in his position to provide food for the Egyptians and the Israelites during the severe drought. Each person remembered who they were and whose they were. They remembered not only how great Yahweh is but also how small they were in comparison. They each were humble and faithful. They each worked to serve the Lord and His interests. Mordecai’s words to Esther have been repeated down through the centuries, who knows that you were put in this position “for such a time as this.” Haman, on the other hand, only sought what he desired. He proved not to be devoted to his earthly king by abusing the king’s trust in him. He did not claim allegiance to any god. He was only interested in himself. He would take a life or many when he felt he was not honored. He killed. He slandered. He was a braggart and prideful. He is completely opposite to Esther.

            The story of Esther is a great reminder of who and whose we are. It is also a great reminder that God will take care of His children. Esther sought to be a help to her King (Yahweh) and also be pleasing to her earthly king, Ahasuerus. Esther’s relationship with God affected her attitude and actions toward king Ahasuerus. Her relationship to Ahasuerus reflected her honor to Yahweh. Her relationship to God affected her people. Through her, God saved His chosen people. We should come out of our study of Esther asking ourselves these questions:

1.    To whom am I faithful?

2.    Am I looking out only for myself and my desires or am I humble and obediently following God, the true King?

3.    What are my actions, words, and attitudes saying to others about my relationship with God and who He is?