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Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Have you ever witnessed an ‘avalanche’ or a ‘flash flood’ or maybe a tornado? Some terrible, disastrous situation you can see coming but you are helpless to do anything to stop it or avoid it? That is exactly what was happening to Mr. Haman when we left him yesterday, remember? Let’s rejoin him in Esther chapter 6 in the Bible but watch out for flying debris!
You’ll recall King Xerxes had been unable to sleep one evening, so called for his attendants to read the chronicles of his reign. In doing so they read to the king about the time when Mordecai discovered an assassination plot and alerted officials who took action, and it spared the king’s life. The king had asked what had been done to honor and thank Mordecai, and the sad truth was NOTHING!
So, the king spontaneously developed a plan. (Esther 6:1-3) At the same time Haman was also developing a plan but Hama’s plan was to gain permission from King Xerxes to publicly execute Mordecai because he was a Jew and would not bow before Haman when he passed by. (Esther 5:14)
Amazingly, these two antithetical plans converged in the king’s courtroom that evening! Haman had come, assuming he was so special to the king that he’d be welcome even after hours and he’d gain an unplanned audience with the king to lay out his ‘execution of Mordecai’ plan. Xerxes meanwhile wanted to honor Mordecai and needed someone he could trust to do so, and Haman happened to be the right man at the right time, remember? We left the scene yesterday as humiliated Haman was leaving the king’s presence.
The story continues: “So Haman got the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai and led him on the king’s horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!” (Esther 6:11) I’m confident there had never been a darker, more humiliating day in Haman’s life up to that moment. I have no doubt crowds gathered quickly and were amazed. I’m also confident someone came along with this parade explaining to the onlookers exactly what Mordecai had done to earn such high honor from king Xerxes.
Susa was a major city, the capital of the Persian kingdom, and while this parade probably did not go up and down every street, I imagine Haman knew that if he shortchanged this assignment from the king, he would be severely reprimanded.
Therefore, I assume this took quite some time and was witnessed by many people, especially the Jewish community in Susa! Why is that important? Please remember an edict has been issued by king Xerxes that ALL Jews, everywhere in the kingdom would be put to death on a particular date later that year. That horrible ethnic cleansing plan had been wicked Haman’s plot to eliminate Jews from the entire Persian kingdom in one day! (Esther 3:13,14) I presume everyone knew Mordecai was a Jewish man, and here he was being honored by king Xerxes for saving the king’s life?!
In our confusing political world, do you sometimes find yourself scratching your head and wondering if common sense has been wholesale abandoned by some leaders in your part of the world? Do you struggle trying to understand how some people can be so passionate in support of killing the unborn or the elderly or infirmed? Have you ever found yourself the target of an intentional evil plot?
As Jews in Susa watched this unimaginable, unexplainable parade with Haman leading the king’s horse and honoring Jewish Mordecai, I have no doubt confusion swept through the city! Almighty God was at work and no one, Jew or Gentile, understood what was happening!
Finally, the parade ended. The record tells us what happened next: “Afterward Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief, and told his wife and friends everything that had happened!” (Esther 6:12,13) Their conclusion and the words they spoke to Haman were the moral avalanche I was talking about at the opening of my comments today.
They said: “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin – you will surely come to ruin! And while they were speaking, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Queen Esther had prepared.”
Let’s pause right here for some reflection, my friends. As you watch world events over the past centuries, but especially in our day, what is your conclusion about God’s heart toward the Jewish people? From the days of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons, to the present day, God has called them His ‘chosen people’. (Ex. 19:4-6)
But we rejoice that we Gentiles, who have trusted Jesus Christ to be our Savior, are ‘grafted in’ and Jesus has created His “ekklesia”, His “church”. (Matt. 16:18) We are a people redeemed by His blood, both Jew and Gentile. (Ephesians 2)
This miracle of Jesus’ church has NOT replaced Israel in God’s great plans for our world. One day King Jesus Christ will return and set up His earthly kingdom, with His throne in Jerusalem, and He will reign in God’s righteousness and justice for 1000 years over our world! That is often called “The Millennial Kingdom”. Revelation 20 and Zechariah 12 speak clearly to this remarkable future event in which the nation of Israel, the people of Israel, the city of Jerusalem will all be the very center focus of our entire world!
As Haman and King Xerxes were both on their way to this second banquet Queen Esther had prepared, neither they, nor Queen Esther, nor Mordecai, could possibly imagine what God was preparing to do! In fact, no human being on our planet that day could have imagined what God was planning. So, let’s pause here.
Tomorrow, we’ll join them at that banquet, but for today is it possible you need God’s intervention in an avalanche that seems to be building against you? The very same Almighty God who was working His plan to rescue His people from Haman’s evil, is on HIS throne and fully aware of your need for God’s help. (Ps. 33:18-22) God is always ready to hear our cry and receive our call for help. Let’s worship with this song and I’ll meet you here again tomorrow to see what God did.
Today’s Scripture: Esther 6:11-14.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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