September 20, 2009
Scripture:
Scripture:
Prayer
Hymn 161 — God moves in a mysterious way,
Prayer
Esther 6
We’ve been seeing how the story of Esther shows what will happen after the rapture.
There have been, throughout the Old Testament. several types of the Lord: Isaac, David, and Solomon, for example. Mordecai is also one. Earlier on, when he was fasting, clothed in sackcloth and sitting in ashes, he represented the Jews during the tribulation. Here in our chapter today, we see him clothed in royalty and riding on a horse; he represents Christ coming to take the throne.
As we’ve mentioned before, these people had chosen to stay in Babylon instead of returning to the Promised Land when they were allowed to. As a result, God said, “I am not your God, and you are not my people.” However, Mordecai is a God-fearing man, and Haman hates him and wants to hang him.
V1. We might ask ourselves: Why? Why couldn’t the king sleep on this particular night? Why did he have them bring the records? Why did they turn to the story of Mordecai? Why was Haman in the king’s court? We might say, “Oh, it was just chance,” but no. God still loved His people and was working in their lives. God is working in our lives for good as well, if we are living for Him.
So the king called Haman in, and asked him what should be done to the man who the king wants to honour. Haman thought who would he want to honour more than me. So he gave the king some ideas. Then the king told him to go and do that to Mordecai. Haman probably thought, “What! Mordecai! That’s the man I hate!” But he had to do it. Haman wanted to hang Mordecai, but God spared him. Mordecai honoured God, and as a result God honoured him. Here is the lesson we learn from chapter six. “Them that honour me, I will honour.”
This chapter connects to the end of ch. 4; ch. 5 talks about the internal problems. Now we get the record of the wall, and the enemy’s opposition. But this time, they are not acting as a roaring lion. They want to get together; do we recognize this tactic? Here where we live, there is not a lot of persecution of Christians. However, we see this: the wiles of devil. This is not as easy to recognize; Satan can be so crafty. Nehemiah easily recognized their plan because he knew these men as enemies. He knew they were not interested in his objective.
So does this mean that I shouldn’t have a coffee with a co-worker? They aren’t the enemy; they need the gospel and we should use opportunities to share it with them.
Nehemiah was tempted 3 times in this chapter; each time, he was able to avoid the enemy because of His faith and maturity. Also, he knew his purpose and wouldn’t be derailed. The Lord was tempted 3 times as well; each time he responded with scripture. It’s interesting to note that there was nothing wrong with turning stones into bread; but the Lord would not obey Satan.
That Nehemiah was a great leader we can see several times in this book; once again, he set a good example. He realized that he was “doing a great work” and would not be distracted. It was prominent in his mind (see ch. 5:16). It was most important: it was a great work because it was for the Lord. This contrasts with the excuses of those in the parable of the marriage (Luke 14), which were self-centered.
Nehemiah’s refusal didn’t make the enemy less persistent; 4 times they called for Nehemiah and 4 times he gave them the same answer. Then, they sent him a letter, accusing the Jews of things that weren’t true: they said the Jews were planning to revolt, and make Nehemiah their king. However, Nehemiah’s reputation as governor up to this point refuted these claims: he had not even taken all that he was allowed.
It is amazing to realize that all that we are reading about in Ezra and Nehemiah—the building of the temple and wall—were being funded by a heathen king. And this was all preparation for the Lord; He needed a temple to come to when He was here on earth, so He could fulfil the prophecies.
At the end of v. 9, we read another of Nehemiah’s one-sentence prayer: “Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.”
Hymn 380 – Standing by a purpose true
Prayer