Esther - The Principal Characters

"... to the end that you may be putting to the test the things that differ, in order that you may be incorrupt and may give no occasion of stumbling, unto the day of Christ" [Php 1:10] [Roth]

The first person we shall mention is the king. As we have already noted in the previous post, he represents our soul and the story of our life. This will become obvious to us by the end of the account. When we come to the next installment it will be the interplay of all the following characters with the king that sheds much light on our own circumstances, struggles and joys. As a side note, the word Ahasuerus is a title rather than a proper name. It is speculated that this is referring to Xerxes, the Persian. But the inspired account leaves this detail out. So you see, Father has left open the door of our association in type, with this unnamed individual.

Next we are introduced to Vashti. She is described in glowing terms. It is generally held that her name means "beautiful".

In the account, Vashti never appears in public. We know very little about her and secular scholars deem her to have been a minor consort of this king - a concubine. Her role, however, will turn out to be quite significant. So Vashti remains mostly a mystery.

Now we come to Mordecai. He is introduced simply as a Jew who has occasioned the capital City of Susa. How he arrived there, what his occupation might be and so on are also a mystery. The salient point is that Mordecai is in the vicinity of the king.

Esther, for whom the book is titled, is now introduced as the younger cousin of Mordecai who has assumed the role of her parent. We wil have much to say about her later.

Next we meet the antagonist, the Agagite, Haman. His heritage as an Amalekite also figures into the metaphor, as we shall see. As you may recall, Agag was the Amalekite king spared by Israel's king Saul after Samuel had given him explicit instructions from God to leave none of that nation living. As it turns out, Father was way ahead of Saul, preserving a descendant to assume the role of the enemy of the Jews. The type that Haman portrays (which his lineage and Saul's actions suggests to us) will add significantly to our understanding.

Now we have introduced almost all of the significant characters. There is one more introduction to make, but we are going to leave that until the very end of the story.

Next up: Esther - the Story Unfolds.

Esther - Moments of Discovery

"The glory of God is to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter." [Pro 25:2]

One of Father's wonderful gifts to us is that of moments of discovery.  That moment when light dawns on the mind in an area that had been shrouded in dense fog is an occassion for joy and celebration.

The late Ray Stedman often noted that the great truths revealed in the Greek scriptures are illustrated in the lives and events of the Hebrew scriptures.  No detail is too small to add subtle nuances of understanding to the objects of discovery. Important are the events themselves, the meanings of the names of the participants, the order in which people and events occur, the relationships between the characters, where the history takes place, and so on.
One of Dr. Stedman's observations regards the passage quoted above.  He took from it, and many other passages, that a king in scripture is a metaphore for the totality of the human soul. Noting this in study, there are marvelous insights to be gained regarding the workings and purpose of human will, emotions and intellect.
 
The goal of this series of posts will be to throw light on the subject of the struggle between flesh and Spirit, where the battle takes place, how it is fought, and the final outcome. We shall discover that Father has left clues for us to encourage us in our daily walk as He works out His purposes in us. Armed with new insight, we may find greater peace in the midst of life's most challenging moments.
 
Our first task will be to charaterize the principals of the account. Subsequently we will consider the roles of the principals, their relationships to one another, and the implications of the account and its outcome regarding the larger truth that Father is illustrating. Hopefully we will enjoy some of those "aha" moments as we progress.
 
Next up: The principal characters.

Christian Service

This post is not likely to draw a lot of fan mail from the ranks of the clery, but here goes.

Thanks to Clyde Pilkington Jr for his inspiring post here.  An excerp appears below.

We would do well to discard the phrase "christian service" from the believer's lexicon. It has become too closely linked with organized events of the organized church to be used to identify Father's real work.

In the above mentioned post, Clyde beautifully contrasts Father's real work from what receives top billing in the organized church.

"True ministry is intensely personal, borne out of self-sacrifice for another. It is freely being spent (used up) in the situations of life where Father has placed us, and regardless of how you may “see” things or “feel” about the value of your personal sacrifice, it is in the silent, unrecognized giving of yourself and your daily life in the seemingly routine details of the day that you are used in HIS real ministry. It is in your regular avenue of living that your role as a “Son of God” is manifest in the real “work of God”!

I am not talking here of an occasional “act of service,” but of your daily LIVING SACRIFICE for Him in every detail and circumstance of life, being His available vessel – His channel of care and love – in EVERY SINGLE SITUATION, EVERY SINGLE DAY, day in and day out.
Your life is what true ministry is all about. It is not something that you “go and do.” It is who you are as our Father lives His life in and through you. Your daily sacrifice is what true ministry is all about. To give your life as a living sacrifice to God is a tremendous amount of hardship, care, burden, heartache, difficulty, trial and inconvenience. "

Believe that the focus of Father's work is in and through you every moment of your life and not organized events of the organized church. Rather than measuring one's self or others by participation in organized events, simply rest in the assurance that our daily life is Father's work. No pressure.  No "measuring up".  No need for motivation by guilt or fear.

Does this mean one should not participate in organized events? If one can participate without being motivated by fear or guilt or the need to measure up, have at it. If the motivation is purely the joy of opportunity and Father's Love or the need of another, by all means participate. If it does not become a substitute in your own mind for Father's real work, carry on. But recognize the danger.

One of the challenges in all of this is to realize that our flesh desires recognition. That means that participation in organized events (the recognition that inevitably results) is far more attractive to the flesh than the idea of Father working in the mundane things of our life. This is where our warfare takes place. The Spirit against the flesh and the flesh against the Spirit.

Father willing, in future posts we will take a look at what the book of Esther reveals about this struggle and the marvelous outcome.

Saved By Grace

Law is the instrument that exposes the symptoms of our universal and fatal disease. Death is the prognosis (the letter kills).

"What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Let it not be! But I did not know sin except through Law; for also I did not know lust except the Law said, "You shall not lust. Ex. 20:17 " [Rom 7:7]
"for the wages of the sin is death, ..." [Rom 6:23a]
"Delighting, do I delight in the death of the wicked? declares the Lord Jehovah. Is it not that he should turn from his ways and live?" [Eze 18:23]

Grace is the cure, and when administered by the Spirit at Father's direction, it is 100% effective. Life is the result (the Spirit gives Life).

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ..." [Eph 2:8]
"... and the gift of God is life age-during in Christ Jesus our Lord." [Rom 6:23b]

And Father assures us that He will see to it that ALL are inoculated.

"... who desires all men to be saved and to come to a full knowledge of truth." [1Ti 2:4]
"You will then say to me, Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His will?" [Rom 9:19]
"... declaring the end from the beginning, and from the past those things which were not done, saying, My counsel shall rise; and, I will do all My desire; ..." [Isa 46:10]

Hope For All

If death is the finish line for choosing between heaven and hell, why did Father withhold this information for millenia?  Why do we not read of this in Genesis where sin began?  Why did Father not clearly explain this?  How can we account for this seemingly callous disregard of all those millions and perhaps billions who lived and died before Jesus' Advent?  Could anything be more important?  If Father has no other options, would He not give all an opportunity to hear of the coming of Christ and His atoning sacrifice?  Would not such dire consequences warrant such a chance?
Or is it possible that death is not the finish line?  That those who sleep in death await their opportunity?  That Father has something more glorious in store?  That He has given the keys to death and the unseen (hell) to Jesus who will use them in due time? That each, at his appointed time, will meet his Savior face to face, have his blindness removed, and at that moment will bow the knee and confess with his tongue to the Glory of the Father?
Why are we so dead set on sending the vast majority of mankind to eternal punishment?  Are we so arrogant as to believe that we would have fared any better than they given the same circumstances?  Does any honestly believe that they chose Jesus due to some superior intellect or good sense of their own?  Can we not believe the scripture that tells us that we are all the same without exception?

"What, then? are we better? not at all! for we did before charge both Jews and Greeks with being all under sin, according as it hath been written--`There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who is understanding, there is none who is seeking after God. All did go out of the way, together they became unprofitable, there is none doing good, there is not even one." [Rom 3:9-12]

Is it so hard to believe that He chose us and not the other way around?  Is that not the most hopeful of the two alternatives?  For if it is Father who does the choosing (and the scripture declares it so) then all indeed have Hope!

The Sky is Falling

The pagan invention of the conscious dead may be a candidate for the 'Original Oxymoron'.

Conscious eternal torment of those who misbehaved in this life was an early tool used to manage populations. Conjuring pandemics and climate catastrophies are examples in a contemporary genre. Those who rule (or wish to) find that a fearful people are easily manipulated.

The Hebrew scriptures do not so much as whisper the idea of conscious thought in the grave. In fact, they confirm the opposite.

"His breath will go out, he returns to the earth; his thoughts perish in that day." [Psa 146:4]"
"By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until your return to the ground. For you have been taken out of it; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." [Gen 3:19]
"... then the dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it." [Ecc 12:7]

One will find no such concept of an "immortal soul" in the Hebrew Scriptures. The dead 'sleep', and like Job, await their change.

Enter Augustine

Most translations of the Greek scriptures groan under the ponderous weight of Augustine's Manichaean machinations. He brought to Christianity some of the syncretic system ascribed to the pagan Assyrian Mani. One of those was a form of eternal conscious torment of the unbelieving. And so this became a motivational tenet of the organized church and severely cambered the early translators work. Scared parishoners are motivated parishoners.

Enter Toto

Yet Paul clearly explains, "... this mortal must put on immortality ...". The real Good News is that, while being mortal is our present condition, and death a present reality, One has transcended the grave, for it could not hold Him. He has been given the keys to death and the grave and He has every intention of using them. Death's days are numbered. Father is exposing the farce like Toto discovering the real wizard of Oz. All that fear-mongering is just smoke and mirrors. He is moving the Ecclesia out of the shadows of church traditions into the full light of the glorious gospel of Christ.

"For the Love of Christ constrains us ..." not the fear of hell.

Nations and Rulers

"And He made every nation of men of one blood, to live on all the face of the earth, ordaining fore-appointed seasons and boundaries of their dwelling, ..."[Act 17:26]

"This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the command by the word of the holy ones, so that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever He will. And He sets up over it the lowest of men." [Dan 4:17]

"And all those living in the earth are counted as nothing. And He does according to His will among the army of Heaven, and among those living in the earth. And no one is able to strike His hand or say to Him, What are You doing?" [Dan 4:35]

"And he was driven from the sons of men. And his heart was made like the animals, and his home was with the wild asses. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the heavens, until he knew that the Most High God is Ruler in the kingdom of men, and that He appoints over it whomever He desires." [Dan 5:21]

"As streams of waters, the king's heart is in the hand of Jehovah; He turns it wherever He desires."
[Pro 21:1]

If Father determines the times and boundaries of all nations and who rules them and how and when, are not all who are in power now placed there by Him for His purposes?  And were not Gandhi and Hitler and Churchill and Idi Amin and Pol Pot?
 
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." [Isa 55:8-9]

"I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil. I am Jehovah, that doeth all these things." [Isa 45:7]

He Alone is Able

Credit goes to The Christian Heretic whose deft logic able prose was the inspiration for this post.

Law incites sin.  We hardly need the scriptures to confirm what our experience teaches us. Anyone who has attempted a diet can cite ample proof.  The imposition of law has the effect of inciting rebellion. No one is exempt from the axiom. Paul makes this abundantly clear in Romans 5, 7 and 8.

It seems an odd thing then that we continue to insist on imposing law. The ways in which we attempt this are legion.  Signing contracts, dedicating ourselves to some discipline, promising adherence to some creed, agreeing to some covenant or other.  All have the effect of creating in us the desire to do the opposite of what was intended.

Do we not see that these impositions are ill-fated?  That frustration and even dispair can result?  Is it not indeed true that we, of ourselves, even with the best of intentions to keep the noblest of principals when they are obviously in our own best interest, are utterly unable to perform?

Now some will protest success in this endeavor.  But John has the answer for them. "He that says he has no sin is a liar and the truth is not in him."  We conclude they are blind to their own weaknesses.

Where does this leaves us?  Shall we not trust the One who made us for His own pleasure?  When He says "He that hath begun a good work in you will finish it ..." we may have confidence.

We will never achieve what we desire by the keeping of some law.  Indeed, to use law for this end will have the opposite effect.  We must trust to the One who created law to prove to us this very point.  He alone is able.

The Holy Spirit Given to All?

Will Father condemn one from whom He has withheld the Truth?

"For God shut up all into disobedience ..." [Rom 11:32a]
"Because of this they could not believe, because Isaiah said again, "He has blinded their eyes" and "has hardened their heart," "that they might not see with the eyes" and "understand with the heart," "and be converted," "and I should heal them."Isa. 6:10" [Joh 12:39-40]
"So, then, to whom He desires, He shows mercy. And to whom He desires, He hardens." [Rom 9:18]
"... in whom the god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving, so that the brightness of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God, should not dawn on them." [2Co 4:4]
"... that He may show mercy to all." [Rom 11:32b]

Can any believe without the Holy Spirit? [1Cor 12:3]

"But God revealed them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of a man within him? So also no one has known the things of God except the Spirit of God. But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit from God, so that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God. Which things we also speak, not in words taught in human wisdom, but in Words taught of the Holy Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. But a natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But the spiritual one discerns all things, but he is discerned by no one. For "who has known the mind of the Lord?" "Who will teach Him?" But we have the mind of Christ." ^{Isa. 40:13}[1Co 2:10-16]

Shall not all confess Christ? [Php 2:10, Rom 12:11]
Can any confess without the Holy Spirit? [1Cor 12:3]

One is not granted the Holy Spirit because one believes. One believes because Father has granted the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Truth Withheld

Can one be held accountable for the truth if it is purposely withheld?  Will Father condemn those from whom He has withheld the truth?

"Jesus said to him, I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." [Joh 14:6]  

"But though He had done so many miraculous signs before them, they did not believe into Him, so that the Word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he said, "Lord, who has believed our report? And the arm of the Lord, to whom was it revealed?" Isa. 53:1

"Because of this they could not believe, because Isaiah said again, "He has blinded their eyes" and "has hardened their heart," "that they might not see with the eyes" and "understand with the heart," "and be converted," "and I should heal them."^{Isa. 6:10"} [Joh 12:37-40]

"What then? What Israel seeks, this it did not obtain, but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened;" [Rom 11:7]

"... But their thoughts were hardened, for until the present time the same veil remains on the reading of the Old Covenant, not being unveiled, that it is being done away in Christ." [2Co 3:14]


"... in whom the god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving, so that the brightness of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God, should not dawn on them." [2Co 4:4]

"No one is able to come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day." [Joh 6:44]

If Father bestows the gift of believing on some now, must He not, if He is just, bestow the same gift on all eventually?  Shall not the Judge of the earth do right?

"For God shut up all into disobedience, that He may show mercy to all." [Rom 11:32]

"... because it was granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer on His behalf, ..." [Php 1:29]

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave authority to become children of God, to the ones believing into His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but were born of God." [Joh 1:12-13]

"For by grace you are saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; ..." [Eph 2:8]

"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to myself."  [Joh 12:32]

Will Any Be Lost?

If Father has yieded all to Jesus, what in the creation (visible or invisible) remains outside His control?

"The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand." [Joh 3:35 LITV]

If Father has made Jesus heir of all (visible and invisible), what remains for the Adversary to inherit?
Does this inheritance not also include the Adversary?

"... in these last days He spoke to us in the Son, whom He appointed heir of all; through whom He indeed made the ages;" [Heb 1:2 LITV]

If all come to Jesus (and are not cast out), and if nothing of what Father gives to Jesus will be lost, how shall any remain in hades or Tartarus or the Fire or the Abyss or death?  Shall not even the Adversary come to Jesus?

"All that the Father gives to Me shall come to Me, and the one coming to Me I will in no way cast out. For I have come down out of Heaven, not that I should do My will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of the Father sending Me, that of all that He has given Me, I shall not lose any of it, but shall raise it up in the last day." [Joh 6:37-39 LITV]

The Bema and White Throne

Judgment is the process of discernment - bringing truth to light.

For the Body of Christ this takes place at the bema, the judgment seat of Christ.  For all others it is the Great White Throne.

All will be led by the Holy Spirit into the presence of pure Love, pure Light.  Each will have joyfully received the Savior, some without seeing Him, others upon seeing Him in His Glory. There each one's life will be laid bare for them. Jesus will gently discern to each the purpose the flesh (the Adamic nature) has served in Father's work.
There also, having served its purpose, the flesh will be stripped away, forever consumed, leaving only the pure, flawless vessel of Father's making, a perfect and unique expression of Father's Glory.  There, all wrongs will have been made right, tears turned to joy, sorrows to rejoicing.
When the last has been purified thus, Jesus will yield His reign to the Father, and with our Savior pre-eminent, Father will at last be All in all. 
And that dear friends is the end of the beginning.  Beyond that we have only the faintest glimpses.  We only know that it has not entered into our thinking what Father has in store next.

Judgment

Author's note: I originally used forms of determine where forms of discern should have been used.

We judge that the penalty for sin has been paid in full for all [Really Good News]. No account remains to be balanced. There are no charges to be read. No penalty remains for any of God's creatures. Therefore, judgment does not concern sin.

For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died; and he died for all, that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again. [2Co 5:14-15 ASV][Ed note: Love controls us - not the fear of hell. He died and rose for the sake of all.]

So what is judgment?

For we must all be made manifest before the judgment–seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad. [2Co 5:10]

Judgment is the task of discerning truth, bringing the truth to light so that a discernment may take place. The bema, or judgment seat, is the place where this takes place for Christ's Body. What is it that is being brought to light here? It cannot be sin, for that has been dealt with. Who must discern? It cannot be Father or Jesus, for they already know all.

Is it not those who have been in the dark? Those who could not see past the flesh? Would that not be us? Will we not be brought to the Light for just that purpose?

And what must be discerned?

Can the flesh produce anything of value? Do all the "good works" I perform "for God" purchase me anything from Father? Is there anything the flesh has that Father wants? Does Father want anything from us? In the Light of the bema seat we receive the answer. The works done in our bodies that were really living for ourselves will be distinguished from Father's work in us, which is living for Him. Doesn't the flesh convince us that we can and must perform good works for Father? But the truth we will finally see is that it is only Father's work in (and through) us that has value. Is it not He who will finish the good work He began in us? Is it not He who works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure? Is it not His life given to us that has value? How can we tell the difference between our "good" work and His? We cannot. We must wait for Him to bring us to the Light.

The hardest thing for us to lose is the robe of our own righteousness. In that Light Jesus will discern to us its true value. And though it be painful, like Paul, we will gladly suffer the loss of all things done in the flesh.

Father has given us living illustrations of this in the scriptures. It is the point of the book of Job. It is also an underlying theme of the book of Esther. Isaiah paints the most moving and inspiring portrait of the marvelous outcome of all people brought out of darkness into the Light.

And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. [Isa 25:6-9]

Really Good News

"Yet all is of God, Who conciliates us to Himself through Christ, and is giving us the dispensation of the conciliation, how that God was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself, not reckoning their offenses to them, and placing in us the word of the conciliation. For Christ, then, are we ambassadors, as of God entreating through us. We are beseeching for Christ's sake, ''Be conciliated to God!''" (2 Cor 5:18-20 CLV)

Let's take a look at Paul's summary of the Gospel.

"... All is of God, ..."

Nothing happens that does not serve Father's purposes. From Father's perspective, all His purposes were accomplished before He began.  Such is the power of His Sovereign Will.  So He is able to declare the end from the beginning and things that are not as though they are. All that Father has declared, He will do.  He will do all His pleasure.  His purposes will be accomplished. 

"Who conciliates us to Himself through Christ ... conciliating the world to Himself ..." 

We, indeed all of mankind, were conciliated to Father in Christ.  All the barriers between Father and mankind were removed.  That work was finished on Calvary and nothing remains to be done.  This is difficult for us to concede since, from the perspective of the flesh, nothing is accomplished save for human volition, energy and industry.  We are continually tempted to think we can or must add to Father's work.  Let's concede this point: the work of conciliation is finished, and we had nothing to do with it.

"... not reckoning their offenses to them ..."

Father has no accounting sheet with a list of your sins. No record of sin exists. This can't be overemphasized. GOD HAS NO RECORD OF YOUR (OR ANYONE ELSE'S) SINS. (THE Judgment has NOTHING to do with transgressions! We'll look at that subject in an upcoming post). Father is not waiting to squash you like a bug if you stray even a hair's breadth from the straight and narrow.  Father has no can of canola oil with your name on it. (That is not to say that sin has no consequences NOW.  That is an entirely different matter.)  THE PENALTY FOR ALL SIN HAS BEEN PAID IN FULL.  We also had nothing to do with this.

"... placing in us the word of the conciliation."

The ecclesia is now privileged to share this Good News as Father gives opportunity.  He has done all the work. All the barriers are gone. This is our calling.  To declare that Father, through Jesus, has conciliated all mankind to Himself, so be at peace with Father.  Each will come to saving faith WHEN Father bestows it. And ALL creation will declare Their praises!

And I heard every creature which is in the Heaven and on the earth, and under the earth, and those that are in the sea, and all who are in them, saying, Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him sitting on the throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever. [Rev 5:13]

Eternal Death?

The wages of sin is death [Rom 6:23]. Is death eternal in any sense?

     If death really means eternal life in some really nasty place, or eternal destruction from the presence of God, and if Jesus paid (past tense really wouldn't work here) the penalty for sin [Heb 2:9], how is it that Jesus is now at the right hand of the Father [Acts 7:55-56]?
     If death really means death (the cessation of life), and it means forever dead, how is it that Jesus is now at the right hand of the Father [Rom 8:34, Rom 6:9]?
     How can death be "swallowed up in victory" [1 Cor 15:54], and "be no more" [Rev 21:4], if a single created being remains in its grip?
     If, on the other hand, death does mean the cessation of life [Eze 18:20], and Jesus has paid the penalty IN FULL for all men [1 Jn 2:2], abolishing death [2 Tim 1:10], and when the last of mankind bows the knee and confesses Jesus [Phil 2:10-11] (which thing can only be done by the Holy Spirit [1Co 12:3]), and receives salvation and immortality [Rom 10:10, 1Cor 15:53-54] (which only Jesus possesses [1Tim 6:16]) will not the last enemy, death, truly be swallowed up in victory [1 Cor 15:54] and be no more [Rev 21:4]?
     Is this not Father's will [1Tim 2:4]?  Shall He not accomplish all His will [Isa 46:10]?

Seeing through a brick wall.

My absolute favorite line from the pen of JRR Tolkein occurs in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and is attributed to Gandalf remarking on the cognitive prowess of a certain frenetic innkeeper.  It goes; "Even old Barliman can see through a brick wall if you give him enough time".
The horrors of unfettered flesh (the consequences of selfishness) must be FULLY comprehended (observed and experienced) before the unfathomable riches of righteousness (the gift of selflessness) may be received and FULLY appreciated.
Our present frame cannot tolerate the extremes of either.  In mercy, Father restrains the evil He created (Isa 45:7, 2Th 2:7).  In grace we receive tokens of the fullness of what lies ahead (1Cor 2:9).
All have been given the gift of selfishness, that in time, each may also receive the gift of selflessness.
It is enough that some have been given the gift of hope now (His Grace is sufficient) to be shared as He gives opportunity.
In time, even old Barliman will see through the brick.