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Esther 8:1-2   That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews.  And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai.  And Esther appointed him over Haman’s estate.

Perhaps the most encouraging thing about reading through the Book of Esther is being reminded of the absolute sovereignty of the One, true, eternal, Creator God in all the affairs of men.  This God, ‘Yahweh’, the ‘LORD’, the Covenant-keeping, promise-keeping God of Israel, and the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, remains faithful in every adverse circumstance through which he takes his Chosen People, his elect, to fulfil his sovereign purposes.

As we apply this truth today it must be seen in the context that Jesus is the fulfilment of all the Old Testament promises, and that none of them can be extrapolated beyond his life-death-resurrection-ascension.  In other words, inasmuch as the national, political entity of Israel persists in rejecting his Messiahship, it has  lost its claim on these promises.

Nowhere in the Book of Esther do we find the Hebrew word for ‘God’ or his Covenant name, ‘Yahweh’, (which makes it almost unique among the 39 Old Testament books; note the Song of Songs), but nevertheless we clearly see his hand faithfully working in the affairs of kings and political figures to rescue and preserve his elect.  Let us consciously and actively take hold of this truth as we struggle today to process the things that are being done, and seemingly successfully achieved, by hostile anti-Christian forces throughout our world.

In Esther’s day, the Jews faced total annihilation at the hands of wicked Haman, but God had already established his own Queen Esther in a position of influence ‘for such a time as this’ (4:14)!  Let us not be disheartened by the circumstances our loving, sovereign God is leading us through at the present time.  Jesus has promised that he is Coming back in power to take up his eternal rule, and that, until then, “[he] will build his Church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome [or prevail against] it” (Matthew 16:18).  As the Apostle Paul wrote: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.  … … No, in all these things [adversities, including the threat of death] we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything  else in all creation (including powerful, militant, anti-Christian regimes!), will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:32-33, 37-39).  “Jesus SHALL reign where’er the sun does its successive journeys run, his Kingdom stretch from shore to shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more” (Isaac Watts).

– Bruce Christian