The Word for today:
Esther 2:1-18
Esther 2:1-18
mark this: Esther 3:13
Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews--young and old, women and little children--on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.
Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews--young and old, women and little children--on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.
Pharaoh tried to wipe them out. Anybody seen a Pharaoh around lately?
Herod tried to annihilate them. Herod's gone, but they're still here.
Hitler tried to exterminate them, before he slipped into an underground bunker, bit into a cyanide capsule and put a bullet in his temple. So much for the Third Reich.
Currently, Hamas and much of the Muslim world are hell-bent on the destruction of the Jew. But they will see hell--and Hitler and Herod and Haman (from the book of Esther)--before they will see the eradication of the Jew.
***
Where does the anti-Semitic impulse come from? From the Garden. The root of anti-Semitism springs from the seed of anti-Christ:
And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. (Genesis 3:15)
And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. (Genesis 3:15)
Anti-Semitism takes the form of a deflected hatred. Those who reject God direct their rejection towards his chosen nation, as the LORD explained to the prophet Samuel:
They have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. (1 Samuel 8:7)
They have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. (1 Samuel 8:7)
The Jewish nation was uniquely chosen by God to bear a vestige of his presence through this dark world:
Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen. (Romans 9:4-5)
Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen. (Romans 9:4-5)
From their stock, as foretold, would eventuate the Christ, the Immanuel figure--God not only in Presence but in Person:
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:23)
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:23)
The events in the book of Esther are but a microcosm of the perpetual attempt to bring the Jew to extinction. But their light will never be extinguished:
I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name. (1 Kings 11:36)
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5)
I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name. (1 Kings 11:36)
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5)
The Light of the World exposes the human heart of darkness; the life of Jesus is an indictment of our failures:
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)
Collectively, the heart of darkness reaches its most characteristic expression right here:
"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.
They all answered, "Crucify him!"
"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!" (Matthew 27:22-23)
"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.
They all answered, "Crucify him!"
"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!" (Matthew 27:22-23)
***
It is this writer's studied opinion that the United States, currently strutting and fretting our hour upon the stage, is not much more than a bit player in the wider context of history. At the center of this millennia-old drama stands the nation of Israel. Nations as great and greater than ours rose and fell depending upon their relationship to that tiny nation which lies at the crossroads of the world's great continents. Certainly, the Persian Empire (in the book of Esther) and the Roman Empire (in the gospels) were as great in their day as we ever became in ours.
In the face of the current tide of geopolitical and commercial forces, the United States' willingness to support Israel seems to be waning. The day we cease to stand with her is the day our minor role in history will be written out of the script.
Nations who align with the Star of David will stand, as will individuals who align their fates with the Son of David (see Luke 18:38).
Those who do not will join the has-beens of history.
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