Providence (Famous Phrases, Part 3)

/ japfth

One of the most dramatic passages in the entire 66 books of the Bible, the fourth chapter of Esther, pushes the drama of the book bearing her name to one’s viscera.

The Characters:

Haman (the villain; pagan; a hater of Jewish exiles and of God; he made a vow to launch a Jewish holocaust)

Mordecai (a faithful believer in God; cousin/avuncular authority figure to Esther, his Jewish cousin)

Esther (the new [Jewish] queen to Ahasuerus, a pagan king; Esther and fellow Jews are in exile in Persia [Iran]; she is tasked with the impossible–namely, go to her captor/king Ahasuerus, and tell the truth about wicked Haman’s plan to launch a holocaust of the Jewish people

What Esther Did:

She and her friends fasted (4:16a).

She counted the costs (4:16b).

What Mordecai Did:

Mordecai understood the times; he saw through the facades to how evil things really were, and he resolved to be God’s man (Esther 4:13-14).

Mordecai understood that failure to act was to act; it would be complicity. “For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)

Two Profound Theological Verses:

  1. Mordecai’s words to Esther: “And who know whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? (4:14)
  2. Esther’s words: ” . . . . and if I perish, I perish” (4:16b)

Encouragement: The doctrine of providence hinges upon faithfulness and courage. Mordecai is an example of both. Esther is an example of both. And Christian pilgrims today, too, will do well to think upon these things. Faithfulness and courage. What do they have to do with Christ? Everything. He was/is the only One who is wholly faithful and true. He was the One who was faithful even unto death, the ignominy of the cross. Mocked, stripped, beaten, forsaken–and yet he endured from sinners such shame for the sake of redeeming a people for God. Faithfulness and courage, dear reader, and the providence of God.

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