Esther 8:1-17

God is a specialist and changing lives and reversing fortunes.  He truly is in control of our lives and the events in the world.  Haman was on top and had every reason to believe that he was “set” for life.  Mordecai was the object of Haman’s wrath and had gallows built with his name on it.  In the period of a day all of that was completely changed.  Haman hung from Mordecai’s gallows and Mordecai was living in Haman’s house and had been given Haman’s job.  Truly nothing is impossible with God.  We must not allow worry and fears over our current circumstances dominate our lives or our thinking, we must recognize that God is truly in control and that we can trust Him.  He may not always react in such dramatic ways but He certainly can if that is what is best for His glory and our eternal good.

MORDECAI IS GIVEN A PLACE OF RESIDENCE: It appears that Mordecai was living on the streets most of the time.  More than likely he had a small place in which to live where he raised Esther; however, it was nothing in comparison to the estate on which Haman lived.  When Haman was killed it appears that his family was either also killed or they were deposed from their home.  The king gives the estate to Esther and she, in turn, gives it to Mordecai.  The Lord blessed Esther and Mordecai for their faithfulness and their trust in Him.  God is very good at blessing.  He has all the resources of the world and of heaven at His disposal.  He enjoys bestowing those blessings on His people but He also knows that too many blessings can cause or hearts to become proud and draw us away from Him.  We must learn to obey the Lord in all circumstance and then trust that He will bless in accordance with His sovereign plan.


MORDECAI IS GIVEN THE POWER TO RESIST: Even though Mordecai has been promoted and Haman has been killed; there was no shortage of other men just like Haman who hated the Jews and now had authorization to kill the Jews in the day ahead.  Legally, nothing had changed.  Esther pleads with the king to change the law, but he does not have the power to do so.  Instead, the king gives Mordecai the power to authorize the Jewish people to gather forces in order to protect themselves and physically resist their enemies who might come out to attack them and fight against them and destroy their enemies.  This new law was the good news that the people of Israel needed to hear.  Haman had sent out the bad news of death while Mordecai sent out the good news of life.  We also have a message of Good News from the Lord that can free all of mankind from the sentence of death that sin has brought upon all the world.

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