Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. The book of Esther provides
a glimpse into the intricate design of the Lord's predestination
of every detail that occurs in the rescue and deliverance of
the people which he loved before he created the world. He shows
us this by type and foreshadow as Esther, a lowly Jew, is raised
by her adoptive father, Mordecai, and ultimately brought into the
very palace of the king and made to be the queen in order to deliver
her people from destruction. Vashti, the original queen, was
deposed from her office. Little one would have guessed
at the time that her refusal to put herself on display at
the king's banquet was designed to make a place ready for the
one who would be the deliverer of the Lord's people. She had
no other purpose in her actions than to refuse the king's request
to make herself a spectacle at his banquet, but God meant it
for the benefit of his people. Mordecai, a lowly Jew taken into
captivity as a young man by Nebuchadnezzar, had no idea that he would play
a pivotal role in this deliverance. How could he have known that
his pity upon the orphan child of his uncle would be that which
would prepare a young woman to become the queen of a mighty
nation, and that seed of affection which he nurtured in her would
be the very catalyst for her resolve? But God meant it for
the benefit of His people. Esther, but an orphan child,
could easily have been taken in by someone with nefarious
designs. What power did she have to choose
the one who would protect and nurture her? How came it so that
she was endowed with such beauty and grace so as to outshine all
of the fair maidens from across the land of Persia? She could
not have known that her ability to please the king would result
in deliverance, but God meant it for the benefit of His people.
Haman, a wicked man by any man's standard, was raised up to hate
the Jews and to despise his arch-nemesis Mordecai. He only acted according
to the wicked desires of his heart in persuading the king
to make a decree which would ensure the destruction of the
Jews. Acting upon the same evil desire and encouraged by friends,
he built a gallows which he intended for the death of Mordecai. But
God meant it for the benefit of his people. A sleepless night
brought on perhaps by an overindulgence of food and drink, or just perhaps
because of the cares of the day weighing heavily upon him, caused
the king to read the chronicles of the kingdom. And he just happened
to read the exact place that recorded the deeds of Mordecai,
which he just happened to decide to honor. He simply meant it
as a gesture of gratitude to a loyal subject, but God meant
it for the benefit of his people. When one looks at all of these
characters, how intertwined their lives are, and sees all of the
events that transpired in each one's life, how can he help but
see the predestinating hand of God unless he is blinded by unbelief? How could all of these things
just have happened by coincidence? He who created the earth for
a purpose ordains and controls all events that transpire in
the earth to cause that purpose to come to pass. Now as glorious
as it is to contemplate the constant unfolding of events that are
continually occurring every day according to his predestined
will, that in itself is not the glory of his predestination.
He has revealed his predestination of all things to magnify the
glory of his purpose in the creation of the world to set the stage
for the manifestation of his grace, revealed in the redemption
of a people which he has loved from the foundation of that world.
He ordained the fall of Adam. God cannot be taken by surprise.
As surely as He created men with the ability to sin, He marked
out the very spot where that sin took place. Had there been
no sin, there would have been no salvation. Yet in all of this,
He is unblameable and unreprovable by the creature, for He is absolutely
holy. God will deliver His people.
He ordained the deliverer. As Esther was fitted for her
role, so the Lord Jesus Christ was perfectly fitted for his.
Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which
he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal
salvation. He ordained the deliverance.
and you that were sometimes alienated in enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. Not only did the Lord Jesus die
and rise again in our behalf, but he also did predestinate
us to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. He is presently calling his own
unto himself. As surely as the Lord was mindful
of the cries of captive Israel in Babylon, so he is mindful
of those Israelites who cry out to him for mercy in the present
time. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Do you call upon him? He turns none away who do. For
a free CD containing 15 of these radio broadcasts, send an email
to forthepoor at windstream.net.