Esther 5:1 “Faith & Feet”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹And it was in the day of the third and Esther put on royal [clothes] and she stood in the court of the house of the king inside opposite the house of the king and the king [was] sitting upon the throne of his royalty in the house of the royalty opposite the gate of the house.

This is one of those verses in the Bible where we need to stop and ponder deeply what it teaches us. As is often the case with verses like this, it appears at first glance as just a statement of fact carrying forward the narrative of our book. Esther put on her royal robes and went and stood in the presence of the king. That seems very “matter of fact.” However, I would suggest our problem here is that we know “the end of the story.”

Esther does not. Therein lies the enormity of what she can teach us here. Esther does not know the end of the story. For all she knows, verse 2 will tell how the king flew into a rage and commanded his attendants to execute her. For all she knows as she awakens on this the third day, it may very well be the day of her death. She wasn’t kidding when she said, “I will go and stand before the king, and if I perish, I perish.”

Again, I would urge anyone reading these words to put away our casual reading of these words. There is nothing “casual” going on here. For all Esther knows, she is walking to her death. If you would learn from this passage, let the terror she must feel fill your own mind. The man on the throne is not your kindly old Uncle Joe. This is Xerxes. The man on the throne is a cruel tyrant with a violent temper. Esther may be his queen but he has a few hundred other pretty girls he keeps in his harem toy box. This is the man who had all the engineers killed because a storm came along and destroyed a bridge he was building. In fact, in that situation, he even ordered his men to whip the water with chains to punish it for destroying his bridge.

Esther would have every reason in the world to be absolutely terrified at the thought of barging into the king’s presence uninvited. As she said, “There is only one law for anyone approaching the king uninvited—to be put to death.” Esther does not know the end of the story. She doesn’t know what the next five minutes will hold. She only knows that for the love of her people, she must do this.

Slow down and let your heart join Esther in her terror. She isn’t made out of cardboard. She is a real human being just like you and me. Though we may know her to be a young woman of great faith and love, she is still human and, for all she knows, she’s walking to her death.

Do you ever face hard situations? Do you ever feel duty calling you, it would seem, to your death? Of course you do. You face it in a million different situations every day. Sometimes it is as simple as a phone call you really don’t want to make.  No doubt, just like Esther, there may be some monumental fear you must face in the life God has given you to live. But whether it be the little fears of everyday duties or the great fear of that one momentous challenge of our destinies, we all know deeply exactly what Esther is facing. We’ve all been there. In fact, it’s where we live.

In this, there is much to learn.

In this moment, Esther takes her place beside so many other people of faith. I think of Ruth standing there beside Naomi on the east side of the Jordan. Orpah turned back to “her people and her gods,” to the comfort and security of the familiar. But Ruth said, “Your people will be my people, and your God my God,” then crossed the Jordan with Naomi--walking into a future that could have ended very badly. Like Esther, she didn’t know the end of the story. But her faith moved her feet in spite of her fears.

I think of Ruth’s great grandson David as he walked out onto the battlefield with his slingshot. He too had much to fear. He too was walking to his death, but he asked, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” He told Saul, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine.” I think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as they stood there before a very angry Nebuchadnezzar and said, “Our God whom we serve is able to save us from the fiery furnace, and He may, but even if He does not, we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

We could multiply examples throughout the Bible and certainly admire every one of these people, but I want to point out again that this is what you and I face every day. Ours may be a million “little” fears, but they are fears nevertheless. And to be people of integrity, people of faith, we too must step into our futures doing the right thing, the loving thing, and simply trust our God with that future.

He tells us, “Fear not, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged; I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness…for I, the Lord your God will hold your right hand, saying to you, “Fear not. I will help you” (Isa. 41:10,14). He would have us remember, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a well-ordered mind” (II Tim. 1:7).

Esther would teach us today that fear doesn’t have to control us. We, like her, can rise above those fears and be people of integrity. We can go to our jobs and face even the difficult assignments, the difficult people, the difficult deadlines, and yet go on being kind, encouraging and helpful to others. Although we may feel the “terror,” it doesn’t have to control us. Faith can be the engine that moves our feet.

Romans 4:22-25 “The Pattern”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²²Wherefore, “It was counted to him into righteousness,” ²³but it was not written that “it was counted to him,” only because of him, ²⁴but also for us, to whom it will be counted, to those believing upon the One who raised Jesus our Lord out of dead ones, ²⁵who was delivered over because of our trespasses and raised because of our justification.

Notice here that, once again, faith is a fractal. It is a living pattern. That pattern showed up in Abraham’s life, but it’s not as if, well, that was his life, now you and I will have to figure out how to make salvation work in ours. No. It is the same pattern. The pattern of faith in Abraham’s life is the same pattern for you and me. That is why it says, “The words, ‘It was credited to him’ were written not for him alone, but also for us…” “But also for us.” It goes on to say we are the ones “to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.”

Actually, the fact that the logic of life is fractal works greatly to your advantage and mine, because it means we can learn from those who’ve gone before us. The patterns of life repeat themselves over and over. I think of I Cor. 10:11, “Now all of these things happened to them as examples and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the end of the ages has come,” and Rom. 15:4, “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” All of this expresses the same thought of Prov. 13:20: “He who walks with the wise will be wise.” This is, once again, a huge reason why I study the Bible. In the Bible, we get to watch people live their lives. We get to watch them make good decisions and bad ones, enjoy the blessings of their good decisions and suffer the consequences of their bad ones, and then fortunately be provided with a Divinely inspired commentary on it all. That is why it is of great value to slow down and actually ponder on the people we see in the Bible. There is so much to learn just observing them – and it doesn’t matter if we live half way around the world and 4,000 years later. The patterns remain the same.

In this particular case, the pattern has to do with how you and I may enter into and live a relationship with the Lord Himself. It is of course exactly what Paul has been explaining since chapter 1, that “Now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known…This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe…” (3:22) and “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law” (3:28). The good news of this Gospel is summed up in these few words, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”

Ever since the Garden of Eden, fallen man has awaited “the Seed of the woman” who would come and “crush the head of the serpent.” Fortunately for us, “When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, that He might redeem them that were under the Law, and that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Gal. 4:4). While it is true that we were created to know God and live in constant fellowship with Him, we have this sin problem. “The arm of the Lord is not too short that He cannot save, nor His ear heavy that He cannot hear, but your sins have separated between you and your God” (Isa. 59:1). “But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away are brought near through the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13). Real faith requires that we come to terms with this problem of our guilt and failures. Fortunately, our God has gone before us and made a way (a pattern) that we may all follow and it is the pattern of believing in Him who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead.

If anyone wants to really dig into the theology of the Gospel here, there are innumerable commentaries which have been written over hundreds of years and which you can consult. I will take it perhaps a little different direction since my intent is simply to ponder. Here’s my thought. When God warned Adam, He told him not to eat of the tree in the center of the Garden and said literally, “For in the day you eat thereof, in dying you shall die.” The old KJV translated it, “You shall surely die,” but the literal Hebrew is “in dying you shall die.” Our sin problem, in a sense, has two heads. In the old hymn Rock of Ages, we plead “Be of sin the double cure; Cleanse me from its guilt and power.” Sin, with its guilt, not only brought death as our final destiny. It also brought a living death. “In dying, you shall die.” In a sense, we are born dying. That is the power of sin, that its presence in our life is killing us all day every day until finally we actually physically die. Our sinfulness blinds us to our pride, makes us greedy and lazy and fearful and unkind and unforgiving and all the other horrible vices which wreck our relationships and rob us of any hope in this world.

I know from talking to others down through the years that salvation itself means a lot of things to a lot of people. I’ve known people who specifically most valued it because it freed them from their guilt. I know people who lived under horrible burdens of guilt who found the glorious freedom of forgiveness in Christ and that is what their salvation means most to them. For myself, it was (and is) not so much the guilt of sin which burdened me but rather its power. As a young man I was quite sure I knew what life was about and what it took to be happy and embarked on that course with a passion. The problem was it “didn’t work.” No matter how hard I tried, it just seemed like life got more and more hopeless, until I finally came to the end of myself.

At that point, I really didn’t know which way to turn or what on earth I was going to do with this hopeless life. That is when, one day, as I was standing up from my bed, suddenly the lights came on. I don’t know what I had been thinking about. All I can ever say is “the lights came on.” I suddenly knew that God was real, and that Jesus and the Bible and all of that was true. I frankly had no idea what it meant, but I knew that somehow God was going to “fix” me. I was a complete mess but I was suddenly filled with the hope that having Him in my life meant I could stop dying and start living.

Now, 42 years later, I can say without a doubt that two things have been true: I’ve gone on being a complete idiot, and He has saved me day after day after day. I actually got to marry a beautiful girl and stay happily married to her for 39 years (with our 40^th anniversary coming up in just a few months!).  I got to have three wonderful children and now have four grandchildren to boot! The Lord has allowed me to actually have good relationships with all of them and I have to assert again, if it wasn’t for Him, I’m sure I’d have wrecked them all years ago. I certainly did my best to wreck them anyway, but, at just the right times, the Lord has saved me from myself, and now I literally owe my life to Him.

Once again, the old hymn plead, “Save me from its guilt and power.” For me, what stands out most is how He freed me from its power. That is also why I study the Bible—because I want to live. Jesus said, “When you know the truth, the truth shall set you free,” and so I want to be free. I don’t want to die any more. I want to live. I don’t want to be a slave to my own stupidity. I want His freedom. And absolutely, beyond any doubt, He constantly shows me truths in the Bible that liberate me from the darkness that is my own soul.

Jesus “was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” As Paul goes on to relate in chapter 5, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Peace with God. That is what we all need and that is exactly what God has made available to us all through the one thing we can do—believe. That was the pattern for Abraham 4,000 years ago and it is still the pattern for you and me today!

Romans 4:22-25 “Excursis”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²²Wherefore, “It was counted to him into righteousness,” ²³but it was not written that “it was counted to him,” only because of him, ²⁴but also for us, to whom it will be counted, to those believing upon the One who raised Jesus our Lord out of dead ones, ²⁵who was delivered over because of our trespasses and raised because of our justification.

Before I record any thoughts on this passage itself, I want to insert something I feel is of significance. Of course, “fools delight in airing their own opinion,” and they are “wiser in their own eyes than seven men who can render a reason.” That said, I acknowledge it is always dangerous to have opinions no one else seems to share. John Eadie said, “Interpretations are generally false in proportion to their ingenuity.” Acknowledging all of this, however, I also can honestly say I have tried to study the Bible intently for the last 42 years. I’ve sincerely tried to just let the Lord say what He says, make sure (to the best of my ability) I understand exactly what He did (and didn’t) say in a given passage, and only form my opinions on the basis of that knowledge.

What bothers me today is that everyone speaks, writes, and understands the Bible driven by what I might call a philosophy of “progressive revelation.” This idea recognizes that the 66 books of the Bible were written down over a period of at least 2,000 years and by some 40 different authors. Only when John laid down the pen of Revelation were the Scriptures complete. That said, Abraham didn’t have the book of Romans to read. In fact, it is possible, based on this theory that he had no Scriptures at all! David could not read the book of Matthew or even the book of Daniel, since none of these books had been written when he lived.

The underlying assumption then is that they could only have known whatever truth had been recorded by the time they lived. Based on this idea, people make statements to the effect that Abraham could not have understood about Jesus because, they would claim, almost nothing had yet been written down concerning Him. In every generation of the Old Testament, the believers could have only known what was written down up to that point.

Hello? I hope anyone reading this is already realizing how ludicrous it is. From the Garden of Eden on, the Lord spoke to the people, sometimes He Himself speaking, and then through His prophets, through dreams and visions, and, as it says in Hebrews 1:1, “at many times and in various ways.” Would anyone dare to suggest that every single word Isaiah spoke was recorded in his book? The prophets’ job was to speak, and we can all be quite certain “speak they did.” The obvious truth is that very little of what they spoke and taught actually got written down and passed on to us as Scripture. It is completely ludicrous to even suggest that Abraham only could have known whatever had been recorded up to that point, or that we can say with confidence what he did or did not know, based on the written record we hold in our hands.

The obvious fact, to me, is that he (and everyone else throughout OT history) knew and understood far more than what had been recorded up to that point. I see intimations of this throughout the Bible. I personally believe the book of Job was one of the earliest recorded revelations, probably actually written around Abraham’s time (ca. 2,000 BC). In it Job makes the statement, “For I know that my Redeemer liveth and that He shall stand in the latter day upon the earth, and after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (19:23-25). Look at it. With perhaps no (or at most little) Scripture recorded, Job knew there was a Redeemer. He knew that Redeemer was alive and he obviously understood that he himself would be resurrected.  If people were consistent, shouldn’t they be completely baffled to think Job could say such things?

Stop for a second and consider what Jesus Himself said: “Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing My day; he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). What did Abraham “see?” The obvious answer is, we don’t know. And that is my point entirely. We don’t know. We don’t know how much was revealed to Abraham…or David, or anyone else throughout the entire OT. The one thing we do know for certain is that they had far more revealed to them than what had been written down up to that point.

All of this is probably fueled in my mind by the words in vv. 23,24 ^“but it was not written that ‘it was counted to him,’ only for him, but also for us…” Whenever Gen. 15:6 was written down, note that it was “written down for us.” In other words, it was important to the Lord to actually record it because it would be of benefit to us 4,000 years later. He didn’t have to write it down. The whole interaction between Abraham and the Lord could have happened and not been recorded at all and we’d not even know he ever existed. We only know what did get recorded—which also means we don’t know what didn’t.

I guess I just want to assert I think it is ludicrous for anyone to comment on anything from the past and make statements to the effect that “they could not have known…” That applies to the Bible and also applies to our own human history. The plain simple fact is that we don’t know what they knew. In fact, even with human history, the earth is covered with evidence that ancient peoples knew things “they couldn’t have known.” I constantly read about the ancient past where someone is wondering at things like the precision of the pyramid stones and they say something like, “It is a mystery how they could have accomplished that with the knowledge and technology of the time.” How do they know what was the “knowledge and technology of the time?” The fact is they are clueless, and, just as with the Bible, the earth is covered with ancient remains that clearly evidence a knowledge far beyond what we’re willing to attribute to them. How is that not some kind of arrogance to claim we know what they knew?

Of course I am just one croaking toad, but I will still maintain that what this generation needs is a dose of humility. It’s time to admit that we don’t know what we don’t know. It’s time to admit that people who lived before us may have actually known things we don’t know or things we’ve just recently figured out.

As far as the Scriptures themselves, it is true they were written as a progression. In that sense, Progressive Revelation is a fact. However, as we read and study our Bible, let’s be determined not to have the arrogant attitude that we’re somehow smarter than them or that we know what they could have known. Let’s acknowledge that they had a great deal of direct revelation which never got recorded. Sometimes it was written for us. Probably most of the time, it was not. Let us read the Scriptures as what was written for us and leave them the option they may have been a whole lot smarter than our generation wants us to think. 

 Guess that's my excursis.