Esther - The Enemy Unmasked

It is a hard thing to discover the treacheries of an intimate. To be informed that one we love has betrayed a sacred trust is agonizing. The sweet Psalmist of Israel expressed the pain of it:

"My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me." [Psa 55:4-5]
"For it is not an enemy who reviled me; then I could have borne it; it is not one who hates me who magnified himself against me; or I would hide myself from him; but it is you, a man my rank, my guide and my friend. We took sweet counsel together, and walked to the house of God in company." [Psa 55:12-14]

How often is this same scenario played out in the lives of our race. Countless are the betrayals that mark our history. And how often is it those closest to us that are caused to suffer most. These real life experiences picture to us an inward reality designed to teach us about the character of the flesh.
When Father brings the Spirit into close proximity with self He is applying a poultice. A wound cannot heal until the infection has been withdrawn and the drawing out of poison is a painful process. Yet it is this very agony that signals the prospect of the cure. Not until one sees the true nature of self in the light of the Spirit can the balm begin its work.
Ahasueras does not yet know Haman. To the king, Haman is a benefactor, enriching and protecting the kingdom. Haman has the king's best interest at heart - or so the king believes. How could that be bad? Haman is the king's closest confidante, his best friend. But scripture paints a different picture of the type Haman portrays and the blindness we all suffer when it comes to our own Adamic nature.

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is incurable; who can know it?" [Jer 17:9]
"A man's steps are from the LORD; how then can man understand his way?" [Pro 20:24]
"I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps." [Jer 10:23]
"They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand." [Isa 44:18]

To reveal to one of His children the true nature of their flesh requires great care and preparation. Father has lovingly orchestrated all the preceding events to bring the king and Haman to this point. Now we have the second revelation from Father. To draw the flesh out into the light of the Spirit. To give the king eyes to perceive the treachery of this familiar. To see self for what it really is and to have done with it.
And so Esther springs the trap and Haman is caught in his own snare. Ahasueras now sees Haman's true nature and the fiend's fate is fixed.
The king's antipathy is the purpose of the process. Father must allow us to experience the ravages of the rule of self to ratify in each of our minds the same animus. This marks a permanent turning point in the kingdom.
Swiftly now the king bequeaths Haman's house to Esther and the seal of the kingdom to Mordecai. The kingdom is infused with a new hope and new life.
So prospers the new life of the believer. Father enables in His child the recognition of His Son by the Spirit, and then sets about to draw out to us the true character of the Adamic nature. The first is a joyous encounter, the second is a painful necessity, which in the end, is no less joyful. The order is always the same. One cannot recognize Haman who has not first been smitten with Esther and Mordecai. The gift of the Spirit precedes belief in our Savior and the recognition of our true enemy.
Now, though the course has been set and great changes affected, the work is not quite finished. We have yet one more introduction and then on to the conclusion.

To be continued ...

Esther - Power and Worship

"So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?" [Est 6:6]

That the flesh cannot be satisfied we have established. A moment's reflection on this will inform our ruminations concerning governance, commerce, industry and in fact, all human intercourse, including religious inclinations. Those who reside at the pinnacles are loath to vacate them. Those who do not, harbor convictions that they could, no doubt, govern better.

Haman is a study in this. He is positioned near the pinnacle of power in the kingdom. Yet he cannot be satisfied, for Mordecai refuses to worship him. In his fury he plots to assasinate Mordecai ahead of schedule. Little does he know that he has been playing into Esther's hands.

Haman's response to the king's query is very telling. The first concern of flesh is to be front and center. To Haman, all others are subordinate. And so pomp, ceremony and identification with the throne are prescribed. To the flesh this is worship. The flashier the better - a big show. While Esther and Mordecai work behind the scenes, Haman prefers the spotlight.

Yet how often does Father foil the schemes of the flesh? How often do the plans of those who follow the flesh meet an untimely end? To his dismay, the king orders Haman to honor his mortal enemy. The tables have been turned. Though he is second in the kingdom, he humbles himself at the king's command and performs the loathsome duty. He will do anything in his efforts to retain position and power.

"And Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, If Mordecai is of the seed of the Jews, before whom you have begun to fall, you shall not prevail against him, but falling shall fall before him. And while they were still talking with him, the king's eunuchs arrived, and they hurried to bring Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared." [Est 6:13-14]

Haman's efforts will not avail. The flesh holds no power over the Spirit. Father's will cannot be resisted. The Divine arrangement cannot be thwarted. From this point forward Haman is unwillingly borne along to an end he had planned for another.

To be continued ...

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.