Today's Bible Reading: ESTHER 5:1-10:3
Esther 8:16
The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor.
The story of Mordecai and the Jews at the time of Esther is one of humiliation to honor. It is a story of enmity to exaltation, from disdain to delight, and from sackcloth and ashes to robes and rings. Their potential ruin turned into rejoicing. Darkness, heartache, sorrow and spite engulfed every Jew. Drowning in despair, hope seemed lost. Yet, there was a great reversal. There occurred a dynamic shift. Holding to their faith, now their faith upheld them. The Lord changed the heart of the king. He instigated a kingly deliverance. Jews that were forsaken would now become favored. Their life was spared. They were saved to new life. Their story is our story.
There had been issued an unchangeable decree. The law of the Medes and the Persians once established could not be eradicated or erased. It stood. Therefore the day of the destruction of God’s people was set in motion. The edict "to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods" Esther 3:13) was implemented. The anti-Semitism of the day turned in to annihilation. It birthed an edict of eradication. The fate of the Jewish people was sealed and seemed sure.
But the Lord would not leave His people to be mercilessly slaughtered in adherence to the king’s edict. That Law could not change, so the Lord rose up Mordecai and Esther to beseech the king to propose another decree that would in effect allow “the reverse” to occur (Esther 9:1). Rather than the Jews being annihilated on one specific day of purging, they themselves on that very day were allowed to “defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods” (Esther 8:11). This was nothing less than God’s hand helping for His people. It was God’s great reversal.
This is a beautiful picture of our great reversal in Christ. It is God moving us from alienation to acceptance and from sorrow to joy. A decree was issued by the Almighty at the beginning of mankind that any defiance and disobedience to His law would incur the penalty of death. It was an unbreakable binding law of God that could not be removed. We all fell in Adam (Rom 5:12) and we all failed individually (Rom 3:23). Everyone has sinned. The plague of disobedience has affected all of us. We are all doomed to death.
But hope came from on high. The King of Glory decreed that His son would save us (Gen 3:15, Matt 1:21). He is sent to fulfill the decree. His sinless life was sacrificed for our sin. He had no sin and thus could take upon Himself the death sentence against us and granted us life in its place. Here is God’s redemptive power. Marked for death, we live. Scheduled for the gallows we are freed. On the very day the decree of death was carried out upon Jesus, the decree of live was given to all who believe in Him. Death was not removed but placed upon another. The unbreakable law of God was satisfied by the sinless life and the sacrificial death of Christ. Here is the great reversal like in Esther's time. We were doom to death, but were granted life instead. This is nothing less than the grace of God toward us.
Today rejoice in your redemption. Praise God for the decree to send Jesus to die in your place. Thank Him that His decree for our death was not dismissed, but accomplished in the death of our glorious Savior. Praise Him for this great reversal that brought about our redemption.
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