"....Mordecai sat within the king's gate." (Esther 2:19)
.....And so have I. The Bible is "living history." As I finished the Book of Esther this time, I found myself praying the whole way through it. Jesus can do this again; He has done it before. The One Whom the crowd attempted to throw off a cliff and walked right through them, can do the same, not only in us, but among men and nations.
I have not watched much of "The Bible" series on The History Channel, but whether one likes everything the makers did here is not the issue. I remember seeing just the seen of Mary telling Joseph that she was pregnant. Now of course the Bible does not share the specifics of everything she and Joseph struggled with, but the film certainly gave some very real possibilities. The same was true with David taking the citadele at Jerusalem; that boy could fight. And the other battle scenes, e.g., the one with Abraham then Joshua taking Jericho, revealed that these Jews were warriors. To me, films bring a certain sense of the "realness" of the Bible. Things were not as most of our Sunday School literature portrayed, neat, no blood, no battles to the death---------- yet the Bible is full of this.
Mordecai is one of my favorite Bible personages. He was just as much a warrior as David and the others. Now he did not take up arms, but he was just as powerful and effective a warrior as Abraham, Joshua, David, et.al. You remember, "that wicked Haman." Incensed by Mordecai's refusal to bow down to him, he went to the king and persuaded him to issue a state sponsored genocide of the Jews, one of two times in history this was attempted; the second one, in my lifetime, almost succeeded. Our text tells us that, "Mordecai sat within the King's gate." That is what I have done many times in Washington, DC. That is where our Lord Jesus Christ has led many people over the centuries. I am about to go to another one in a few days. Mordecai pushed the issue of the coming annihilation of the Jews with Esther, who in turn brought before the king, who in turn killed the instigator.
You and I are in a great tradition in Jesus Christ. He dwells within us, keeps us, does everything for us. But may we never forget that He can also take us to, "s[i]t within the King's gate."
Father, in Jesus' Name, "Lead on, Oh King, Eternal." Amen.
.....And so have I. The Bible is "living history." As I finished the Book of Esther this time, I found myself praying the whole way through it. Jesus can do this again; He has done it before. The One Whom the crowd attempted to throw off a cliff and walked right through them, can do the same, not only in us, but among men and nations.
I have not watched much of "The Bible" series on The History Channel, but whether one likes everything the makers did here is not the issue. I remember seeing just the seen of Mary telling Joseph that she was pregnant. Now of course the Bible does not share the specifics of everything she and Joseph struggled with, but the film certainly gave some very real possibilities. The same was true with David taking the citadele at Jerusalem; that boy could fight. And the other battle scenes, e.g., the one with Abraham then Joshua taking Jericho, revealed that these Jews were warriors. To me, films bring a certain sense of the "realness" of the Bible. Things were not as most of our Sunday School literature portrayed, neat, no blood, no battles to the death---------- yet the Bible is full of this.
Mordecai is one of my favorite Bible personages. He was just as much a warrior as David and the others. Now he did not take up arms, but he was just as powerful and effective a warrior as Abraham, Joshua, David, et.al. You remember, "that wicked Haman." Incensed by Mordecai's refusal to bow down to him, he went to the king and persuaded him to issue a state sponsored genocide of the Jews, one of two times in history this was attempted; the second one, in my lifetime, almost succeeded. Our text tells us that, "Mordecai sat within the King's gate." That is what I have done many times in Washington, DC. That is where our Lord Jesus Christ has led many people over the centuries. I am about to go to another one in a few days. Mordecai pushed the issue of the coming annihilation of the Jews with Esther, who in turn brought before the king, who in turn killed the instigator.
You and I are in a great tradition in Jesus Christ. He dwells within us, keeps us, does everything for us. But may we never forget that He can also take us to, "s[i]t within the King's gate."
Father, in Jesus' Name, "Lead on, Oh King, Eternal." Amen.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
