God Is In Charge

Esther chapter 3 and verse 1 after these things King Ahasuerus promoted haman the agagite the son of Mohammed otha I can't make up my mind how to pronounce this in terms of the syllables and I saw a double minded man is unstable in all his ways hamid otha that'll do hamid atha the son of hamid otha and advanced him and said his throne above all the officials who were with him and all the king's servants who were at the Kings gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman for the King had so commanded concerning him but Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage then the Kings servants who were at the Kings gate said to Mordecai why do you transgress the king's command and when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them they told Haman in order to see whether Mordecai's words would stand for he had told them that he was a Jew and when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him Haman was filled with fury but he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone so as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai Haman sought to destroy all the Jews the people of Mordecai throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus in the first month which is the month of Nisan in the 12th year of King Ahasuerus the Kaspar that is they cast lots before him and day after day and they casted month after month till the twelfth month which is the month of Adar then Haman said to King Ahasuerus there is a certain people scattered abroad and disbursed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom their laws are different from those of every other people and they do not keep the Kings laws so that it is not to the Kings prophet to tolerate them if it please the King let it be decreed that they be destroyed and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who have charged of the Kings business that they may put it into the Kings Treasuries so the King took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to him in the guide the son of Hamid otha the enemy of the Jews and the King said to Haman the money's given to you the people also to do with them as it seems good to you then the king's scribes were summoned on the 13th day of the first month and an edict according to all that Haman commanded was written to the King satraps and to the governor's over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples to every province in its own script and every people in its own language it was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the Kings signet ring letters were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with instruction to destroy to kill and to annihilate all Jews young and old women and children in one day the 13th day of the 12th month which is the month of Adar and to plunder their goods a copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province by Proclamation to all the people's to be ready for that day the couriers went out hurriedly by order of the king and the decree was issued insu's of the citadel and the king and Haman sat down to drink but the city of souza was thrown into confusion thanks be to God for his word brief prayer together gracious God we desperately need your help as we study this chapter of the Bible so that we might understand what it says that we might say nothing that it doesn't say and that we might be brought to the kind of faith and obedience which gives indication of your transforming work within our lives for we pray in Jesus name Amen well I hope you've kept your Bible open in front of you and that you can look at the tenth verse because it's there I want to begin so the King took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to him and the Agra gate that was not simply a symbolic gesture I think it was an abdication of responsibility ah 'has whereas is an interesting character as we're getting to know him he seems to operate far more on the basis of his glands than he does on the strength of conviction or in terms of principle and as a result of that we see him here as something of a Vasa later somebody who is expansive in terms of his understanding of his greatness and yet at the same time is unwilling to make the decisions that are necessary and when we read the chapter we are left with a question who is actually in charge here if we think in terms of power and of authority as we read through this third chapter well clearly it isn't a 'has whereas despite all of his proud boasts and mordecai and as we'll see in a moment appears to have been overlooked in the King's honor list as it were Esther doesn't even appear in this chapter so she has nothing to say the Jewish population is under the sentence of death and the citizens of Sousa are brought justifiably into such an experience of perplexity that the whole place is described as being confused so are we then to assume that the people of God upon whom he has said his affection are now subject to the whims of a king who's increasingly out of touch as he sits down to share a drink with his buddy Haman the horrible I call him him and the horrible I just have been calling him that all week or horrible Haman because I've had to spend a significant amount of time with him and I've decided that he really is horrible he fits the adjectives almost to a tee let's notice as we try and find a way through the chapter first of all what we're told concerning the promotion of Haman himself the promotion of Haman it is very obvious that the King has made this decision we're not sure just why or how on the basis of what whether he is operated arbitrarily and advanced Haman to this position but nevertheless Haman is now advanced to have a throne of his own that is above all the officials who were with him so that all the king's servants and all those who are still within the framework of government circles are themselves subservient to him now this actually follows on from the way in which Mordecai at the end of chapter 2 has received no promotion and no exultation whether he himself anticipated that he might there's a matter of conjecture we the readers having noted what he did might have occasion to wonder just why it was that he didn't do better than simply receive a few lines at the bottom of the book of the chronicles because that's where we're told at the end of chapter one we're not told that he was now advanced to a particular position of authority in the kingdom but simply despite the fact that he had done the job of blowing the whistle on a couple of characters who were planning on assassinating the king despite the fact that he has provided a very worthy service to the Persian Empire all he gets are a few lines at the bottom of the book of the chronicles I wonder was he disappointed I don't know we can find out one day I hope disappointed it being passed over have you ever been passed over for a promotion what did you say when you came home to your wife or to your husband do you say hey what a great day I've had I was passed over for a promotion probably not he probably said I can't believe it after I done so well after my figures had come in so strong after I had gone on that business trip after I had made my boss look so good and all he did was he wrote a couple of sentences about me to be added to my resume I thought I at least would have got a different office if nothing else well maybe Mordecai felt a little bit that way disappointed that all he got was a couple of lines at the bottom of the page but if only he knew how significance the two lines at the bottom of the page we're going to prove not only in his life but in the lives of the entire population of Jews who were there about to be on the receiving end of the brutality of this horrible Haman I mentioned it again simply that I might reinforce for myself and for you a principle that we're trying to see throughout these studies namely that the Providence's of God are seldom self interpreting and it's usually wrong for us to try and understand what's going on in the immediacy of the moment you can figure that out for yourselves no I thought that I was going to live to be a hundred and twelve and I've just been diagnosed with multiple myeloma what in the world is God doing now it's a justifiable question but you're probably not going to get the right answer by trying to analyze it within the timeframe of the now and the here because what God is doing with us and in US and through us and for us is something far more significant that's why it's not really a good idea to be peculiarly disgruntled when you're overlooked for a promotion it's so usually not a good idea when you're exalted to a position of usefulness to suggest to yourself that you have done all these things because God is sovereign in all of those details and most of our understanding will be seen by looking in the rearview mirror rather than looking through the windscreen certainly that would be true I think for Mordecai well back to Haman because it's with the promotion of Haman that were concerned he's introduced to us here in verse 1 as the Agra gate the son of Hamad otha and in verse 10 that is reinforced he's described in that way again so when you have repetition you know that the writer wants us to understand these things and in verse 10 if you allow your eye to scan it you will see that there's a little phrase that is added to the designation haman the agagite the son of hamid otha and here we go the enemy of the Jews now that is very significant there's nothing in the Bible that is just extraneous and that little piece of information is important as I want to show you let me give you a little bit of background if you turn in your Bible all the way to Exodus for just a moment let me point out to you chapter 17 sorry should've given you the reference and in chapter 17 you have the the people of God advancing towards Sinai and in verse 8 of 17 we're told then Amalek came and fought with Israel at ref oedema and so Moses said to Joshua you better get some men and go out and fight with Amalek in verse 10 so Joshua did as Moses had told them and fought with a malanga and then you have that wonderful scene where the Aaron and her hold up the hands of Moses that's that scene when they hold up his hands symbolic of his cry upon God and prayer then the battle goes well for them down in the valley when they let the hands go down then the battle doesn't go so well and in verse 13 we're told that Joshua overwhelmed a maleic and his people with the sword and then the Lord said to Moses write this as a memorial in a book God likes to write things in books he likes memorials he likes Diaries he likes us to keep records of things that's why minutes are important actually right this is a more memorial in a book and recited in the ears of Joshua what that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven okay and Moses built an altar and called the name of it the Lord is my banner saying a hand upon the throne of the Lord the Lord will have war with amalek from generation to generation ok so here you've got right at the very outset of things this battle that ensues we turn forward to first Samuel and to chapter 15 Saul has now been made King having been made King he's given a charge by God and the charge is to destroy the Amalekites 4 Samuel 15 verse 2 thus says the Lord of hosts I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt that's Exodus chapter 17 God says I I I didn't that didn't escape my notice I understand what's going on here now this is what I want you to do go and strike a maleic and to do and devote to destruction all but they have God's command is absolutely clear and you go down to verse nine and you read but Saul and the people spared a gag and the best of the Sheep so they heard what God had said God gave a very clear comprehensive command destroy the whole shooting match they get into the process and they send a snot up such a good idea let's keep a gag he's the king and let's keep some of the best stuff the junk will destroy the junk but we'll keep the good stuff they see the wisdom of God is faster than the wisdom of man God is not arbitrarily giving this directive it is purposeful and failure to pay attention to it will have ramifications failure to obey God always has ramifications when we listen to the suggestions of others rather than to the directions of God then we will live with the implications of that and that's exactly what happens here and in verse 24 after a soul is made aware of the fact that he isn't going to be the king anymore he says this is for samuel 15 24 he says to samuel i have sinned notice for i have transgressed the commandment of the lord and your words so he's not he's not trying to cover for himself earlier in the chapter he does he says well I really did obey and and he's trying to suggest that partial obedience is okay and and the sermon the Lord said no the partial obedience is not okay when God asked for complete obedience he means complete obedience and he says well I have transgressed and I have disobeyed the commandment of the Lord in your words and then he tells us why because I feared the people and obeyed their voice I feared the people and obeyed their voice and as a result of him fearing the people and obeying their voice here we have an old conflict simmering simmering bubbling up boiling over reproducing itself again and again and again the power now resides from a human perspective in the hands of Haman he's promoted to a place of significant usefulness and the writer wants us to understand who he is he is the ag-gag guide now if we don't our Bibles we just pass over that it's like saying he's from Columbus or you know he's from Wisconsin you know move on it doesn't really matter no it really really matters and it really matters when you realize in verse 5 of chapter 2 the lineage of Mordecai because Mordecai has been introduced not only as a Jew now there was a Jew in souza the citadel whose name was Mordecai but we've been given his background the son of jaya are the son of Shem I the son of Kish a Benjamin ight now if you know your Bible you know who kiss was if you don't you're gonna find out and there'll be an aha moment Kish was Saul's dad alright so here is Mordechai a Jew whose lineage goes back to Saul Saul who is the king is told destroy the Amalekites Saul his forefather says now I'm not going to destroy the Amalekites it doesn't really matter God says yes it matters and here we are now in 5th century Persia and this little Jewish man is confronted by the evil of an aggragate who shouldn't even exist but exists because of the disobedience of Saul now I say to you again disobedience has implications don't try don't try and explain your disobedience in the immediacy either don't think for a moment that your disobedience on a straightforward command of God is something that is an existential encounter it has ramifications it will have for you it will have for those who love you it will have for those who live under your influence God is not mocked when he gives his commands when he executes his warnings when he says what he wants done that's what makes it so profoundly significant the promotion of Haman secondly the reaction of Mordechai the reaction of Mordechai in a phrase Mordechai did not bow there's nothing hard about that is there verse five when Haman saw that Mordechai did not bow now he didn't actually see this in the beginning it was the it was the rest of the company that noticed it in verse 3 they are inquiring why is it that you don't bow down the Kings servants asked in verse 4 they are apparently quite exercised about this because they speak to him day after day he pretty well puts his fingers in his ears he won't listen to them and presumably that triggers they're designed to go to Haman to tell Haman basically to see whether this position this stand that is taken by Mordechai is going to be able to prevail and his stand is directly related to the fact that he was a Jew now commentators spend a fair amount of time trying to trying to explain to us all why it was that Mordecai did not bow down and it's all conjecture because we're not told anything other in the passage that would allow us to by inference draw a conclusion other than the fact that he was a Jew that's all we need to know now there was a Jew in the citadel of suzhou his name was Mordechai his lineage is from Saul Haman is now elevated to the position of usefulness his limit in lineage is from Amalek now we've got a huge conflict a huge conflict that goes back down through a long period of time so you don't need to spend a lot of time in your home Bible study trying to work out why it is that he didn't bow down we can infer all kinds of things but it ultimately is not irrelevant but it's unimportant because in the in the balance of the story all that we need to know is that his refusal to bow became the catalyst for the unbelievable fury of Haman which was his response you see Mordecai was dealing with a question that we've already noted namely how could he be a good Jew and a good citizen in Persia he obviously was committed to being a good Jew if he was an insurrectionist then when two fellows had decided when he got in earshot of the fight that two fellows had decided to assassinate the king if he was an insurrectionist a revolutionary then he would have said this is fantastic now that nothing I like better than a good assassination let me help you and he could have covered up for them or perhaps made it even easier for them but no he's a citizen of Persia he's not gonna allow the King to be threatened and imposed upon in that way so there's no sense in which we can cast Mordechai in those sort of revolution returns a kind of Jewish che guevara as it were somebody who is just just opposed to the system just opposed to regulation just opposed to Authority and all that kind of stuff no no no no it's far more difficult than that how can he be a loyal citizen and a loyal Jew how can he do these things and not compromise his own core convictions because he did of core convictions and presumably this was one of them it's a constant question isn't it it's a question for you and me today how are we to live as Christian believers as aliens strangers in a world where our citizenship in the prospect of the 4th of July is ultimately of heavenly origin but then it marks us out from every tribe nation people language and tongue color and intellect size and status is the fact that we all share the same lineage all share the same heritage they all have a heavenly citizenship we've been born again to a Living Hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead we belong to a family that breaks down in the barriers of race that breaks down the barriers of of gender relationships and so on we understand that and we live in a society that increasingly refutes that it's been hard for me to study ester 3 this week without reckoning on the implications of this visit V the Supreme Court decision I mean it's pretty impossible to think about the inroads of a state that is increasingly opposed to the law of God and asked the question how do I then as a citizen of the land of the brave and the home of the free or the other way around I can never remember but all this great nation how do i uphold my Christian principles in an environment that has a structure of government that although it guarantees my religious freedom at at the same time it approves of practices that violate not only the natural law but violate the law of God which actually is the foundation for natural law and that's the question isn't it how do we live then recognizing that all human power is ultimately limited that all human power is actually ordained by God Romans 13 makes that clear we can't step back from that but we also recognize that the power that is instituted by God is exercised by flawed and sinful human beings and when that power is executed in violation of the thought the authority of God in the truth of his word then it almost inevitably leads to the abuse of the power so it is surely a dramatic irony that the Supreme Court of the United States if I understand probably their chambers execute their decisions in a room around which the entire ten commandments are engraved into the structure of the room who are these people that believe that man's ability to renegotiate the terms of engagement established by God the creator of the universe may exercise their jurisdiction in this way that yesterday in the Wall Street in the review section check number see apparent a section C you read the article did you are rights not the courts tagline there's no good reason to give the justices the last word on race abortion and gay marriage if the justices are deciding rather than interpreting the Constitution why should they be the ones to decide substitute in their decisions for hours it's a legitimate question isn't it so here we are we've got to uphold the the context in which we live within the framework and jurisdiction of what God has provided and yet for Mordecai there came a tipping point they said I'm not gonna do that right now the issue is what the state may determine to be allowable with a freedom to live outside of it the day comes when that moves from merely being allowed to being demanded then we for sure have entered into an X for moment whereby we will have to obey God rather than obey man we're not there but we may be there and that's why it's good to allow the reaction of Mordechai to the promotion of Haman to at least get our minds working along these lines don't let's miss the point either that when these things prevail as they do that low standards of morality provide a wonderful opportunity for the Christian Church provided the Christian Church is not going to do a saul on the commandments of God in other words the Christian Church has no legitimate strength with which to pronounce on homosexuality as long as the Christian Church is riddled with premarital and extramarital heterosexual sex the young person has no legitimate grounds to speak to the prevailing drift while they themselves have determined that God's straightforward mandatory expression of the nature of sexuality may be violated at will to fit their own pleasure you can do it can't have it both ways these are exciting days jesus said in the world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer because I have overcome the world so the reaction of Mordechai leads to the decision for the destruction of the Jews the promotion of Haman the reaction of Mordechai thirdly the destruction of the Jews now I'm going to leave you to do most of this study on your own but you will notice that it says very straightforwardly there in verse 6 that the fury of Haman was such actually his fury is described at the end of verse 5 he was filled with fury he was so furious that the death of Mordecai would not be enough for him he decided that he was going to have to take out the entire people of Mordecai one of the passages I read this week made observation no proud man ever received the respect and regard which he thought was due him it wasn't sufficient for for Haman to have all of the servants of the King everyone in the government structure paying obeisance to him and and treating him with in an obsequious fashion and with homage as he went around because there was a Jew named Mordecai in Sousa The Citadel and his fury was unleashed in a way that is so obviously over-the-top I mean you may have somebody that you don't like or who has offended you let's say at a very trivial level that's that somebody did did something dreadful to you and you decided that instead of seeking to pay them back or remove them you would just remove the entire community you know you fell out with someone in Solon so you decide you obliterate the population of soul on your wife you say well that's a little bit of an overreaction isn't it I mean I know you're ticked off but I mean what what's the deal here and that when you read this you say what is the deal here what is this how do you account for the fact that one Jew saying no results in the prospect of the destruction of the entire Jewish community let me tell you what the answer is the answer is the evil one the answer is Satan Satan understands that the deliverer that the Messiah will come from the Lion of the Jew therefore he is committed to the destruction of the Jew so that no deliverer may come that's the explanation for Herod isn't that another over reaction let's kill every male child to and under in the entire place what way I know you're upset but isn't that a bit much what is he trying to do he's trying to make sure that he obliterates the Messiah this all goes back to Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 which I've said to you is important the promised deliverer will come down this line and the evil one who poses it all the way and so when you read this you see that Haman is uses all of his powers he's a conniving conniving person he's malicious he's untruthful he's callous he just represents the activities of his father remember Jesus who who said to the Jews on one occasion I think is in John 8 or so you know they said hey don't be telling as these things Jesus we have Abraham as our Father remember what Jesus said he said you have Abraham as your father if you had Abraham as your father you would do what everyone did but as it is you actually are doing what your father likes because your father is the devil and he's the father of lies and you tell lies too and the reason you tell lies is because of the one to whom you belong well that's a dramatic statement out of the most loving person that ever lived isn't it now we can't get around this and so in the twelfth year we're told that is five years after Esther had become Queen they cast lots they are trying to find the lucky day lucky day lucky day and if they can get the right day then they'll be able to execute this horrible decree what they don't realize is that the casting of the lot is in the lap of God that God actually even overrules this strange procedure and so as they engage in this he then goes to the king he says you know there's a certain people scattered abroad they're not just here they're everywhere they're dispersed among the peoples he's building his case he doesn't have a problem with the people he's got a problem with Mordecai their laws are different from those of every other people they don't keep the Kings laws that's not fair it's only Mordecai that has done this to him so that it is not the Kings prophet to tolerate them now remember we've already seen that it the recurring phrase and and what was said please the king and the king like to be pleased so he was displeased by Vashti out he was pleased by the Esther in he is displeased with this out he likes the idea of Haman in he's not he's not an impressive character this King I said yes to he is not he's not this one's not good and so Haman is able to play upon that so he's able to manipulate him and he says it's not to the profit of the king and by the way says while we're mentioning money I realize there'll be a loss of revenue if we obliterate all the Jews but don't worry about that because I'm gonna chip in myself I'm gonna put my money where my mouth is I'll make sure that you're covered King you probably had lost quite a bit of money in his unsuccessful campaign against Greece three years of a lot of loss of life and a lot of loss of revenue Soho Haman plays all his cards I don't think it would be profitable there they're a distrustful group of people they're all over the place they don't obey the laws they have their own laws it's really just just lets get rid of them and so the King says yeah that's that's fair enough in fact he says you can take the money I don't care about the money you can take the money and you can take the people verse 11 and do with them as it seems good to you what kind of leadership is that just do you want know and you'll notice in verse 12 that the Kings scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month and an edict according to all that Haman commanded was written to the kings and so on and so on and then they've got an elaborate procedure whereby they get it out to the kingdom just one thing for you notice and to chew on as we go to our last point interestingly significantly this day the thirteenth day of the first month is the day before the celebration of the Passover which you will note from Leviticus chapter 23 verse 5 when you go and look for it so they cast a lot they described the decide that it's on this day this is the day to establish the edict and so the people of God now becoming aware of the horrible pogrom that is about to descend upon them the annihilation of their entire population and as that edict now begins to gain strength and influence and be distributed on the very next day the people of God gathered to celebrate the Passover so now they've got a real issue on their hands don't they because the reason they gather to celebrate the Passover is to remember in their history that when they were in an impossible situation in the bondage of Egypt that God miraculously intervened and set them free so now the Edict of Haman established by the king pronounces that their destruction is inevitable so they are now left with the celebration of God's dramatic intervention and the prospect of no dramatic intervention here is it going to be the basis of mistrust or is it going to be the basis of fear or is it going to be the basis of faith of course what we did going to discover and you're almost can't wait to keep moving on but the very means planned for their destruction was the means that God was going to use for their deliverance the very means plan for destruction was the means for deliverance if that doesn't ring a big bell for you and send you to the cross of Jesus Christ then you have actually fallen asleep the very means that the evil one sought to bring about the very destruction of the purposes of God was the means of God for the very victory that Christ achieved it's magnificent isn't it finally the confusion in the city confusion in the city so we have the promotion of Haman the reaction of Mordecai the destruction of the Jews and we're told that the city was just filled with confusion actually I think that the king was filled with confusion as well he's not he's not playing to any kind of strength here at all he is he's an embodiment of Edmund Burke's statement all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing and here he just does nothing I don't know whether he was awake or what was going on with the fellow heads because there is an irony in the fact that his Queen was a Jew there's an irony in the fact that person who had saved him from assassination was a Jew and he has now taken his signet ring off and he's given it to him and he says no go ahead take care of these people whoever they are do you realize what you're doing you think you're in control you're out of touch some of you will remember that terminology from the iran-contra scandal as it relates to one of my heroes namely Ronald Reagan and Ronald Reagan is now in his second term we have the iran-contra scandal and he's on the front of the television front of the cameras and all the microphones and as a humorous interchange where the journalists Esther who says mr. Reagan for five years you have been saying to us I'm in charge and we've been saying to you you're out of touch and now here we are this morning saying to you you're in charge and your response is I'm out of touch to get that no the question was did Reagan know what Ollie North was doing had he simply signed off on something he didn't realize the implications of it see the best of men are men at best and this king had signed off and so the people of God are there held in the grip of the expectation that in 12 months time because it was going to take 12 months to put it into action they were all going to be obliterated and so the city was confused perplexed the word on the street would be if they can do it to the Jews they can do it to anybody have you heard that language before it runs as a vein throughout the entire history of the Western world if they can do it here they can do it there Paul part can do it someone else can do it it can happen and force the early centuries the early decade of the 20th century in in the Soviet empire it could happen in the 40s in Hitler's Germany little did Haman know that God was in charge and that Haman the villain was becoming to become the victim of his own evil plan the folly of Haman's conduct is actually viewed from the perspective of the wisdom of God which actually overrules even Haman's vileness to achieve his own purpose that the terror that was faced by the people of God was an occasion for them to look to him who had promised that he would keep them to the end we begin by noticing that as whereas abdicates his responsibilities Heyman's treachery fills the vacuum and when leadership in any place at any time vacillates between those two things the abdication of responsibility and the invasion of treachery then the people of God who are committed to justice politically economically socially ecclesiastically spiritually have a responsibility to speak out of a life transformed by the gospel in order to say to people listen the leadership that Jesus speaks about is not this kind of leadership it's not a leadership that takes the fifth it's not a leadership that seeks to absolve itself of any responsibility it is not a leadership that is marked either by treachery that is the leadership of the kings of the Gentiles that Jesus had to speak to his people about you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them they're great ones exercise authority over them but it shall not be so among you because whoever will be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first must be the slave of all because remember he said the Son of man did not come to serve to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many so in other words it brings us always back to the nature of the gospel and it's only as we live the gospel it's only as we then on the strength of the gospel critique the abuses of power that we learn to rest in the confidence that comes about from knowing that while heaven and earth may pass away that God's Word will never pass away and that whatever the generations yet to come will experience in this fair land a land that has been blessed arguably beyond any other place for generations yet to come will experience is in part to be measured by our response to the abuses of power executed upon a people by those who have decided that God's law is no longer his law and it certainly is no longer relevant for our society I haven't thought all of this out I'm in the process of doing so I think you are too but here's the thing our fortress is God our confidence is God and in this we rest Father thank you that when we try and process all of this stuff that we eventually come back to the fact that the name of the Lord is a strong tower that the right just run into it that are safe these are complex issues they were complex in Mordecai's day all of the elements of his refusal that aren't so hard to fiddle around with Lord and help us to that we don't go off wrong but help us as well not simply to be cowed to be beaten to fail to stand up for the truth of your word for we pray in the name of your son Jesus

Channel: Alistair Begg

Views: 32,246

Rating: 4.7739558 out of 5

Keywords: Sovereignty of God, Redemptive History, Biblical Figures, Esther, Alistair Begg

Id: ThK1177y9KI

Length: 44min 7sec (2647 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 03 2013