Today we look at verses 1:1-2:18 of the book of Esther, one of the most interesting books of the Old Testament and one of the most beautiful and wonderful stories found in the Bible – indeed, in all of literature. The book is filled with allusions, biblical principles, elegant relationships, intrigue, and literary symbolism. Esther focuses on the salvation of a people doomed to extinction by royal decree, and the book reveals God’s invisible hand working in a special way behind the scenes to accomplish His will to rescue His people through the independent activities of agents and agencies who simply operate on their own recognizance – doing what they ordinarily would do. Although God's Name is not found anywhere in the book, He stands behind it all, directing and achieving His purposes. We note that He works sovereignly and providentially through a uniquely rare and beautiful young Jewish girl – an orphan. God uses her beauty, her charm, her grace, her innocence, and her obedient willingness to serve His ultimate, good purposes “for such a time as this” (cf., 4:14).
In Psalm 140:6-13, we see David’s declaration of faith in God and his cry for mercy. Saving faith can never be effectually accused of being a simple leap in the dark. There’s nothing dark about biblical faith. Such faith is always objectively grounded in reality – the truth of God’s Word and His promises. God possesses the ability to establish the object of our faith and to provide whatever rational evidence is necessary to “deliver and shield” us (i.e., “believers”) from all our enemies (i.e., “the wicked and their plans,” verses 6-8). Our culture of doubt has completely overlooked this truth. In this Psalm, David calls upon God to thwart the “pride and the mischief” of his enemies and to judge them (verses 9-11), because the Lord Himself “upholds the cause” of those who need and seek His help (verse 12).
In Revelation 2:18-3:6, we see two more of our Lord’s letters to the early, first-century churches – to Thyatira and to Sardis. Although the church at Thyatira was commended for its love, faith, service, and perseverance, nevertheless it also received a rebuke by the Lord for its toleration of false teaching and its subsequent sexual sin. This rebuke is a clear warning for us to heed because today’s church has become infiltrated by the practices and the perversions of the world around us. Instead of the church influencing the world, the world is now shaping the church. Back in 1970, Francis Schaeffer warned about this in his book, The Church at the End of the 20th Century (cf., 1970; Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, pp. 81-ff). We need to learn this lesson from the church at Thyatira. To be victorious over the infiltration of culture’s false teachings, the church must guard against unbiblical thinking by a sound knowledge of the Word of God. Here, we also see Christ’s letter to Sardis. Jesus indicated that the church there “had a reputation of being alive, but it was dead” (verse 1). What could be more absurd than a living person acting like he or she is certifiably dead? Who does that? Yet, this was what the church at Sardis was communicating. Jesus simply tells this church to “wake up!” (verse 2). Today, we have a lot of spiritually “dead” churches that need to “wake up.” The only good thing Jesus could say about Sardis was that “a few worthy people there had not soiled their clothes” (verse 4). We learn from Sardis that lethargic complacency leads to spiritual stupor. To counteract stupor, we need to stay spiritually alive, awake, and alert.
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