May 31, 2024

God Has Deliverance Prepared in Advance

INTERESTING FACTS : Robert Treat Paine, MILITARY CHAPLAIN; SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE; ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MASSACHUSETTS; JUDGE

"I desire to bless and praise the name of God most high for appointing me my birth in a land of Gospel Light where the glorious tidings of a Savior and of pardon and salvation through Him have been continually sounding in mine ears."

DAILY READING : ESTHER 6 - 10
 
TEXT : Est 6:1  On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. Est 6:2  And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus. Est 6:10  Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king's gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken. Est 6:11  Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour.
 
THEME : PROVIDENCE
 
As mentioned, Providence is defined as -
 
1. The act of providing or preparing for future use or application.; 2. Foresight; timely care; particularly, active foresight, or foresight accompanied with the procurement of what is necessary for future use, or with suitable preparation. How many of the troubles and perplexities of life proceed from want of providence! ; 3. In theology, the care and superintendence which God exercises over his creatures. He that acknowledges a creation and denies a provide nce, involves himself in a palpable contradiction; for the same power which caused a thing to exist is necessary to continue its existence. Some persons admit a general providence, but deny a particular providence, not considering that a general providence consists of particulars. A belief in divine providence, is a source of great consolation to good men. By divine providence is often understood God himself. [Webster]
 
The Book of Esther is perhaps the most well documented story of God's providence in all the Bible.  As a whole, the entire Book accents this doctrine. Therefore, we can look to the Book of Esther for encouragement in this way - God has all things prepared in advance for those who trust in Him. As the Body of Christ, we can be assured of the future because God is already in it. That is, the eternal God is outside time, and therefore He is already in tomorrow, preparing whatever we may need. This is true of the Church as a whole, and for you as an individual. In other words, God's providence extends to everyone as a whole, and anyone as an individual.
 
"The providence of God rules over the smallest concerns of men. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without him. Trace the steps which Providence took towards the advancement of Mordecai. The king could not sleep when Providence had a design to serve, in keeping him awake. We read of no illness that broke his sleep, but God, whose gift sleep is, withheld it from him. He who commanded a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, could not command one hour's sleep." [Matthew Henry]
 
God kept the king up that night, for He owns all souls. In addition, no king or ruler has any power or jurisdiction that God Himself has not given. [Joh 19:10  Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Joh 19:11  Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.] Therefore, we console ourselves as Christians that our LORD is in full control of history , the world, the Church, and all of us as individuals. There is not anything beyond His dominion and command.
 
"Even after a banquet of wine he could not sleep when Providence had a design to serve in keeping him waking. We read of no bodily indisposition he was under, that might break his sleep; but God, whose gift sleep is, withheld it from him. Those that are ever so much resolved to cast away care cannot always do it; they find it in their pillows when they neither expect nor welcome it. " [Matthew Henry]
 
Hence, as the king is kept awake he reads the chronicles of his kingdom, only to discover Mordecai's help in keeping him from being assassinated. Since no reward had been given Mordecai, the king arranges for one using Haman as the instrument to bless Mordecai. Thus, as the attempt to kill all the Jews is going forward under Haman's provocation and direction,  Haman finds himself the object of complete humiliation and Mordecai receives the reward of his faith. How wise is God who is able to accomplish more than one purpose at a time!
 
"This honour, then, the haughty Haman was now compelled to pay to the hated Jew. The king commanded him: "Make haste, take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said," i.e., in the manner proposed by thee, "and do even so to Mordochai the Jew, that sitteth at the king's gate; let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken," i.e., carry out your proposal exactly. How the king knew that Mordochai was a Jew, and that he sat in the king's gate, is not indeed expressly stated, but may easily be supplied from the conversation of the king with his servants concerning Mordochai's discovery of the conspiracy, Est_6:1-3. On this occasion the servants of the king would certainly give him particulars concerning Mordochai, who by daily frequenting the king's gate, Est_2:19; Est_5:9, would certainly have attracted the attention of all the king's suite. Nor can doubt be case upon the historical truth of the fact related in this verse by the question: whether the king had forgotten that all Jews were doomed to destruction, and that he had delivered them up to Haman for that purpose (J. D. Mich.). Such forgetfulness in the case of such a monarch as Xerxes cannot surprise us." [Keil and Delitzsch]
 
TRUTH FOR TODAY : "GOD HAS DELIVERANCE PREPARED IN ADVANCE!"
 
Concerning God's power to deliver without the aid or help of Man, it is interesting to note that Ahasuerus cannot overturn his own command given to Haman in killing the Jews. Thus, he must invent another way to help his wife's people. Consequently, he decrees that Jews can defend themselves even to the death of their enemies.
 
"The fixed and unalterable character claimed for Persian edicts often placed the king in a very awkward dilemma; for, however bitterly he might regret things done in a moment of haste and thoughtlessness, it was beyond even his power to prevent the consequences. This was the reason on account of which the king was laid under a necessity not to reverse, but to issue a contradictory edict; according to which it was enacted that if, pursuant to the first decree, the Jews were assaulted, they might, by virtue of the second, defend themselves and even slay their enemies. However strange and even ridiculous this mode of procedure may appear, it was the only one which, from the peculiarities of court etiquette in Persia, could be adopted. Instances occur in sacred (Dan_6:14), no less than profane, history. Many passages of the Bible attest the truth of this, particularly the well-known incident of Daniel's being cast into the den of lions, in conformity w ith the rash decree of Darius, though, as it afterwards appeared, contrary to the personal desire of that monarch. That the law of Persia has undergone no change in this respect, and the power of the monarch not less immutable, appear from many anecdotes related in the books of modern travelers through that country." [Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown]
 
We must keep in mind all of this started with one man's decision not to bend the knee in homage to Haman. Of course, that was Mordecai. Therefore,  it is cause for reflection to wonder if Mordecai had any idea what his stand of faith would cost him and so many others. Further, Mordecai being a Man must have had moments of conflict within thinking how massive the repercussions were from his individual decision.
 
"He not only thus vented his grief, but proclaimed it, that all might take notice of it that he was not ashamed to own himself a friend to the Jews, and a fellow-sufferer with them, their brother and c ompanion in tribulation, how despicable and how odious soever they were now represented by Haman's faction. It was nobly done thus publicly to espouse what he knew to be a righteous cause, and the cause of God, even when it seemed a desperate and a sinking cause. Mordecai laid the danger to heart more than any because he knew that Haman's spite was against him primarily, and that it was for his sake that the rest of the Jews were struck at; and therefore, though he did not repent of what some would call his obstinacy, for he persisted in it (Est_5:9), yet it troubled him greatly that his people should suffer for his scruples, which perhaps occasioned some of them to reflect upon him as too precise." [Matthew Henry]
 
At times, faith in God has a high price tag. Moreover, when our faith causes others to suffer, we are more likely to incur not only the wrath of Hell and the displeasure of unsaved men, but the disapproval, discontent, and dejection [or rejection] of our own brethren. Remember, not all Christians are as fully committed to Christ as they should be. [Php 2:19  But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I als o may be of good comfort, when I know your state. Php 2:20  For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. Php 2:21  For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.]
 
Even so, God has deliverance prepared in advance for those who trust  in Him. In the end, the Jews are not only [miraculously] delivered, but Mordecai, like Joseph in Egypt is made second in the kingdom.
 
"The elevation of this pious and patriotic Jew to the possession of the highest official power was of very great importance to the suffering church at that period; for it enabled him, who all along possessed the disposition, now to direct the royal influence and authority in promoting the interests and extending the privileges of his exiled countrymen. Viewed in this light, the providence of God is plainly traceable in all the steps that led to his unexpected advancement. This providential interposition is all the more remarkable, that, as in the analogous case of Joseph, it was displayed in making the ordinary and natural course of things lead to the most marvelous results. To use the pious words of an eminent prelate, "though in the whole of this episode there was no extraordinary manifestation of God's power, no particular cause or agent that was in its working advanced above the ordinary pitch of nature, yet the contrivance, and suiting these ordinary agents appointed by God, is in itself more admirable than if the same end had been effected by means that were truly miraculous." The sudden advancement of individuals from obscurity and neglect to the highest stations of power and influence is, in Eastern courts, no extraordinary nor infrequent occurrence. The caprice, the weak partiality of the reigning sovereign, or, it may be, his penetrating discernment in discovering latent energy and talent, has often "raised the beggar from the dunghill, and set him among princes" [1Sa_2:8]. Some of the all-powerful viziers in modern Persia, and not a few of the beys in Egypt, have been elevated to their respective dignities in this manner. And, therefore, the advancement of "Mordecai, who was next unto Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews," was in perfect accordance with the rapid revolution of "the wheel of fortune" in that part of the world. But, considering all the circumstances of Mordecai's advancement, not only his gaining the favor of the king, but his being "accepted of the multitude of his brethren, it was beyond all controversy the doing of the Lord, and was truly marvelous in his people's eyes." [Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown]
© 2024 Time For Truth Ministries | (518) 843-2121
Time For Truth Logo