Can you see God's sovereign hand in all this? The king couldn't sleep so he asked that the
chronicles of memorable events be brought.
If the king had slept well things would be different for the Jews. If Haman hadn't hated Mordecai so much he
wouldn't have been in the court at the right moment. If Haman hadn't been the kind of
self-absorbed narcissist he was, he would have asked who the king wanted to
honor. Instead of Mordecai bowing before
Haman, then, Mordecai leads Haman through the streets while Mordecai the Jew is
acclaimed by all the people and Haman serves him as escort. Can you imagine the bitterness and anger
Haman felt at this? Can you imagine the
smug grin that must have been on Mordecai's face as this procession wound
through the city? Now, his friends and
family see that this isn't going to end well, he won't be able to talk the king
into sending Mordecai to the gallows.
The banquet now looms before him.
Will we be led by the desires of the flesh or will we
mortify them for the sake of being like Jesus?
Forty days He has fasted and satan comes to tempt Jesus. The first temptation is to finish the fast by
making some food from stones. Jesus is
fully able to do this. He is in the
wilderness where there is no food and He has a journey to make to get back to a
place where there is food. What harm
could there be, out here, alone, in doing this thing? Even after forty days, the most important
thing to Jesus isn't bread and He refuses to comply. Next, the appeal is to a desire for power and
Jesus again turns away from the temptation for the sake of the cross and the
kingdom of God. The final temptation is
the one that finds its fulfillment in the cross. Jesus won't cast Himself off the temple mount
this day to prove the Father's love, He will go to the cross in faith that the
Father will bring Him back from death.
That day Jesus goes even farther in trust, all the way to the tomb.
At Ephesus Paul finds some disciples and for some reason he
is moved to ask them about their baptism.
He asks specifically if they received the Holy Spirit when they
believed. Their response could be the response of many Christians today, “No,
we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So little attention is given to the gift of
the Spirit that this is a common idea, that no expectation exists that the
Spirit is given. They were baptized for
the remission of sins, to prepare them for Jesus. Paul then baptized them in
the Name of the Lord Jesus and laid hands on them that they might receive the
Spirit. They did. We need to ask today for more of the Holy
Spirit in our lives that we might trust Him more and proclaim Him more boldly
and powerfully. He is our power.
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