Now, Esther has tested the waters these last two days, has
seen the honor given to her uncle Mordecai, and has the faith to step out and
make her request of the king on behalf of the Jews. He is shocked at her words and only wants to
know who has contrived such a thing as the destruction of his queen and her
people. Her response is assertive to say
the least, “A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!” The author tells us that Haman was terrified
and rightly so, he has seen enough these last 24 hours to know the gig is
up. He falls on the couch with the queen
to beg forgiveness and the king sees this and is even more angry, believing
Haman is assaulting her (remember when Joseph was accused of something similar
in Genesis) and now the man must die, literally hoisted on his own petard, the
gallows he had erected for Mordecai's hanging.
After the temptations, Jesus returns to Galilee and begins
teaching in the area is glorified by all.
He is becoming quite a celebrity in the region and now comes to the
synagogue at Nazareth. All eyes were on
Him as He stood that day to read and took up the scroll of Isaiah. What did they think He would say about the
passage? Surely and certainly not what
He did say, that the time of Messiah had come and was fulfilled that day. Who in the world does He think He is? Initially, their reaction is amazement and
yet the question remains, isn't this Joseph's son? When Jesus then begins to speak approvingly
of Gentiles and question the heritage of the Jews who rejected the prophets who
were welcomed by these Gentiles, it all goes badly. Now, He has lost His credibility, He has gone
from preaching to meddling and we always want God to despise the same people we
do. Just like Haman did.
Jealousy nearly always gets you into trouble. God was doing extraordinary miracles by the
hands of Paul and the sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, who were itinerant
exorcists, want to have the same power without the same source. They believe not in the power of God but in
magic and they believe they have come upon the magic words that make this all
possible. If we are not in Christ then
we take great risks by using His Name, it is not meant to be used in vain, for
the purposes of vanity and that is exactly what these men were doing. They wanted the notoriety Paul was receiving,
they wanted to be great in their own right.
What they discovered is that without the Holy Spirit they were
incredibly vulnerable and fighting enemies much more powerful. Because of their routing at the hands of the
evil spirit, however, many believed and renounced their own beliefs in
magic. The volume of books that came out
of the woodwork here is truly amazing, about $35,000 in today's money. We never know people's true beliefs until
they come into contact with Jesus in power.
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