August 23, 2009
Scripture:
Prayer
Hymn 162 - O Lord ‘tis joy to look above
Prayer
We have been talking about the book of Esther and seeing how it is a type of what will happen after the rapture. Last time we learned about Haman, who represents the False Prophet, the Antichrist.
Esther 4
These people were about to be killed; so Esther decides to fast and asks all the Jews in Shushan to fast as well. I want to look again at the predicament that these people were in.
The temple was at Jerusalem; that was the center of worship. Now, after Solomon’s reign, the country was divided into two. The north country was called Israel and was comprised of ten tribes. The south country was called Judah and was comprised of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. II Kings 17:1-2, 5-6. Israel was carried away captive to Assyria; the two southern tribes were left in the land. II Kings 25:1-4. Here Nebuchadnezzer leads Judah captive to Babylon. These are the tribes that we are reading about. Hosea 1:8. This is the state of things with these people. Cyrus the king had let the Jews go back to the land of Judah, but some had decided not to go back. So God says, “I will not be your God.” That is why these people didn’t pray. They were out of touch with God. However, Mordecai had faith in God.
Now, Mordecai had told Esther not to tell anyone that she was a Jewess; but if she would save her people she had to make her nationality known. She tells Mordecai that she will go in to the king and, “If I perish, I perish.” She didn’t have faith. Faith would say, “I know that God will deliver me.” But these people were out of touch with God. They didn’t pray, and consequently didn’t have faith. So we see how important prayer is! May we pray everyday.
Last week we talked about how the Jews had two duties: building and defending. We should be doing both of those today. We should be built up in our faith and ready to recognize and separate from the evil around us. We’ve seen the different types of opposition that the Jews had: it started with mockery, and now we are seeing violence. It’s when the enemy saw that the Jews were being successful that they became for aggressive.
For us, these two activities (building and defending) can also be seen as two questions: What do I believe? and why do I believe it? If you grew up in a Christian family, maybe your answer to the second question is “That’s what I was taught.” However, we should be able to defend what we believe well. Recently, brother Norman has had a nice man, a Jehovah’s Witness, come to his door a few times. These experiences have really emphasized the need to be ready to defend what you believe. This is the kind of person you will meet in your life outside the wall, as you go about the world; are you ready to explain the truth?
V. 16: We’ve spoken about the weapons that the Jews used; they also used habergeons, or coats on mail, similar to what Goliath wore. Then, in v.18, we find that one man had a trumpet. What was that for? In Numbers 10:2, we read that the Children of Israel had two trumpets, both made of a solid piece of silver; these stand for the Old and New Testaments. They used the trumpets to sound for four different activities: assembling, journeying, conflicts, and worship. These are four main categories of Christian life, and they should all be guided by the Word. In the case of the Jews in Nehemiah, the trumpet was used to call the workers together for battle if necessary, vv. 19 & 20.
Hymn 179 - Nothing but Christ, as on we tread
Prayer