Observing Haman

Haman was an Agagite who was promoted by King Ahasuerus, and the king commanded people bow the knee when Haman passed by.  There was a man named Mordecai who, day after day, refused to bow and pay homage.  The king's servants enquired to see why Mordecai did not bow, and in conversation he divulged he was a Jew.  Haman was enraged and offended that he was not given honour by Mordecai and Esther 3:6 says, "But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai. Instead, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus--the people of Mordecai."  Haman took advantage of his elevated position before the king with the sinister aim of exterminating all Jews because of a personal offence with one man.  He would not stoop to speak directly to Mordecai, but his pride led him to go to the king to murder every Jew in the realm.

Haman was a crafty and deceitful man who, like the devil, offered half-truths to make the way for blatant lies to achieve his self-serving agenda.  Satan is the most clever and crafty of all God's creation, and Haman followed his lead out of hatred of the Jews and love of self.  Observe Haman's proposition to the king in Esther 3:8-9:  "Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other people's, and they do not keep the king's laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. ⁹ If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king's treasuries."  Haman failed to identify the Jews but called them a scattered people--which implies there were a small number of them.  They were a people who had "different" laws, and falsely claimed they (as a people) did not keep the king's laws.  Because one Jewish man refused to bow before him (while likely all others did), Haman slandered all God's people as disloyal subjects unworthy of life and existence.

Haman judged all the Jews negatively based upon his limited experience with Mordecai, a man he scorned to speak to personally, arrest, or bring before the king.  In seeking the destruction of the Jews by deception, Haman's scheme would lead to His own destruction.  The previous chapter explains this same Mordecai prevented an assassination attempt against King Ahasuerus by sending a message of warning.  The king had recently married the cousin of Mordecai--Hadassah who was called Esther--because he loved her more than all the virgins in his kingdom.  And Haman judged it was unfitting of the king to allow any of the Jews to remain!  Despite his cleverness, Haman's trickery rolled a stone intended to destroy all the Jews that would roll back upon himself and cost him his princely position and life.  Pride comes before a fall, and Haman's fall from the gallows he would construct to kill Mordecai would snap his neck.

As children of the light, Christians ought to avoid the self-serving, subversive tactics of Haman.  He refused to admit his true motivation behind his desire to destroy the Jews, and he walked in the steps of Satan who is a liar, thief and destroyer from the beginning.  Our motive ought to be for the good of others and not their destruction.  Instead of condemning other people or groups due to our negative experiences with one person, we ought to extend grace and mercy to the one who has offended us.  We ought to do what Jesus commanded, that if we have been offended or know someone has something against us we ought to seek to be reconciled with them.  Romans 12:17-19 says to Christians, "Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. ¹⁹ Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord."

It is true God's people observe commands of Jesus Christ that are different from the laws of nations and the wisdom embraced by this world.  Haman sought to take vengeance and destroy Mordecai along with all the Jews, and in a stark contrast we ought to follow the golden rule of doing unto others as we would have them do unto us, love another another as Jesus loves us, freely forgive as we have been forgiven, and give move grace.  Our comments and communication ought not be to start quarrels or "destroy" others or their convictions, but to express gentleness, longsuffering and meekness from a heart filled with God's love.  Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 10:16, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves."  Believers are not required to give full-disclosure to those who mean our harm, but we ought to be honest and sincere with an aim to honour God always.

Keeping Words and Worship

As the book draws to a close Revelation 22:6-7 says, "Then he said to me, "These words are faithful and true." And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place. ⁷ "Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book."  Many people are drawn to read Revelation to catch a glimpse into what the future holds, yet Jesus is not content to satisfy our curiosity.  This revelation of Jesus Christ provided John on the island of Patmos is for us to hear and keep, to remember what God has said and to put His word into practice.  The study of the Scripture, whether narrative, poetry or prophecy, is a call to heed God.

While we can be content to know the truth, God's desire is that we would by faith abide in the Truth.  The apostle John wrote in an epistle in 3 John 1:4:  "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."  In a parable Jesus told of a father who told his two sons to work in his vineyard, the one who said he would go was not as commendable as the one who actually went.  Based on the words of Jesus, blessed is the one who reads Revelation as a book that is a call to the personal action of obedience to God in light of what is revealed concerning Jesus.  It is good for us to read all God's word with this intentionality, not just to learn what is true and right, but to order our lives accordingly to please God.

Following on from the promised blessing of Jesus to all who keep the word of His prophecy, Revelation 22:8-9 states:  "Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. ⁹ Then he said to me, "See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God."  This is the second time recorded in Revelation John fell at the feet of an angelic messenger to worship him and was rebuked, for God alone is worthy of worship.  Since John fell at the feet of an angel to worship due to revelation from God, it is entirely possible we can do the same figuratively before human messengers used by God.  We may not physically prostrate ourselves before them or kiss their feet, but we can subtly give people honour and praise God alone is worthy to receive.

There are two directives in the immediate context of keeping the words of the prophecy of Revelation:  do not worship God's servants, and worship God alone.  There are many people who are admirable and good examples as God's servants who excel, yet not one of God's servants is worthy of worship.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd we are to seek and trust, the KING OF KINGS before whom we bow, the one who has our affections and attention, the LORD of LORD we serve joyfully.  When Jesus visited their home, Martha was distracted by much serving while Mary did the needful thing of sitting at His feet to listen to Jesus.  It is good to "get things done" with labour sanctified as done unto the LORD, yet it is also good for our hearts and bodies to be still and rest, knowing He will accomplish all things.

Psalm 95:6-7 exhorts God's people:  "Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker."  I have heard people speak of taking a stand for God, and there are times to do this publicly.  There is also a time to take a stand for Christ on our knees privately, devoting time to worship Him because He is God, is worthy of all honour, and we are commanded to worship Him.  Blessed are those who keep the words of the prophecy of God and worship Him alone.

Jesus Speaks for Himself

As I browsed the wares of a bookstore recently, I was appalled by the blurb on the back of a (supposed) Christian book that has sold in the neighbourhood of 45 million copies.  The back of the book says it was "...written as if Jesus Himself is speaking directly to you--words of encouragement, comfort, and reassurance of His ending love."  While obviously popular, I find it a disgrace anyone who "reveres" God's word would write and print a book that purports to speak the words of Jesus in first person--who has cherry-picked themes and passages as a Jesus Christ impersonator.  I've never quite understood the draw to be an Elvis impersonator for fun, but I cannot begin to comprehend writing a book to be like Jesus speaking to spiritually starving souls when they could be actually reading His words in the Bible.

Perhaps people are drawn to read a book like this is because they are not experiencing God speak to them as they read His word.  Like students in school who didn't read the assigned books and relied on Cliffsnotes pamphlets to summarise the content, maybe people don't bother with reading the Bible.  The pages of the Bible might as well be Greek or Hebrew to them, and there are many things they don't understand clearly.  They want to hear from God as others seem to have, and there are brands of Christianity that put priests, pastors or prophets on a pedestal as the primary means to hear from God--as if God doesn't speak to just anyone.  People can come to a pastor for prayer because they believe they have a better chance of having their prayer heard or answered than if they prayed privately.  I imagine some people scoop up a daily devotional to help get them in the habit of daily Bible reading and prayer.

There's nothing wrong with daily devotionals:  writing in first person as if you are Jesus is problematic because this is an effort to assume the voice and tone of God when the writer is not God.  A prophet says, "Thus says the LORD" and God's people can quote the scripture will complete confidence in the LORD to fulfill His word.  In the New Testament you will find no examples of people speaking as if they were Jesus because Jesus is alive and speaks.  Each book of the Bible inspired by the Holy Spirit has variations of style and format.  The books of the Bible were not written by authors who attempted to sound like God was speaking but guided by the Holy Spirit penned God's word in truth which is complete.  To try to speak in the voice of Jesus is to run the incredibly high risk of adding to or taking away from what Jesus has said because Christians are not Christ.  God can speak to us in a multitude of ways that include other people and books they have written, and His word remains the touchstone of all truth.

So you have this book in your library; you've read it and recommended it to others because it was useful to you.  Let me exhort you, dear friend, to read the Bible believing Jesus Himself will speak directly to you.  That is one purpose of God giving us the Scripture, so we might hear God speak, know Him and walk in His ways.  His word guides us into all truth with the help of the Holy Spirit, instructs us in His wisdom, warns, rebukes, corrects and exhorts us.  God tells us things we would never have dreamed up and things we do not like because we are not naturally like Him:  His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts.  Any daily devotional will become dusty and dry, but God's word is living, fresh and daily supplies our spiritual needs.  Call out to the LORD, and He will hear you and answer.

Christ's Judgment Seat

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

2 Corinthians 5:10

Today at Calvary Chapel Sydney I mentioned how the dead will be raised to appear at the Great White Throne judgment to be judged according to their works.  Those who names are written in the Book of Life will appear before the judgment seat of Christ.  Knowledge Christians will be judged by Christ provokes us to consider what this will involve.  The fact Paul wrote this to believers leads me to believe this is a subject people do not know much about, and frankly there isn't a great amount of detail provided.  At times people have been keen to offer their opinions on what this judgment entails, yet the little God has plainly said is infinitely superior to man's ideas.

When we speak of final judgment and the eternal state, there is much we do not and cannot know.  Based on what the Bible teaches us and has revealed to us, there are some suggestions we can soundly reject.  The most common is at the judgment seat of Christ we will be confronted with all our sins, that God will pick our lives apart (publicly, of course!) by rehearsing our transgressions.  Nothing could be further from the truth, for Jesus has already atoned for all our sins, cleansed us entirely and imputed Christ's righteousness to us.  The judgment seat of Christ is not for the dead (spiritually) but those who have been born again and granted eternal life by faith in Jesus.  It is a judgment where we receive rewards or possibly suffer loss.  2 John 1:8 says to believers, "Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward."  No rewards God gives could ever be earned by our merits:  they are only received by God's grace.

Having received Jesus Christ as Saviour, each believer is called to wisely build on this foundation--hearing and obeying the words of Jesus.  Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15:  "Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, ¹³ each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. ¹⁴ If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire."  People who build a house in an area prone to fire will select materials suitable to resist and endure fire.  In a similar manner, all who realise our lives will be judged by Christ's fiery gaze ought to live in the way we know pleases Him.  Jesus freely supplies enduring building materials the Holy Spirit produces in our lives.  Proverbs 14:1 says, "The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands."  The wise build on a solid foundation, and the foolish rely on themselves or things of this world that cannot endure.

In a parable Jesus told, a master gave talents to his servants according to their ability, left on a long journey, and then settled accounts with each of them upon his return.  Consideration of this raises a question in the light of the judgment Christians will face:  have we wisely invested the life, resources and gifts God has given us for His sake?  Have we laboured to be fruitful with God's things or have we sought to serve ourselves?  Jesus said in Matthew 25:20-21:  "So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.' ²¹ His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'"  The master in the parable commended his faithful servant upon his return, and Jesus will commend all His servants who serve Him faithfully.  The servant viewed all the talents as being his master's, and we serve Christ faithfully when we acknowledge our lives are God's and we are not our own because we have been bought with a price--the precious blood of Jesus.

We can have all confidence in view of standing before the judgment seat of Christ because of all Jesus has accomplished for us through the Gospel.  Having been born again and forgiven by Jesus, we know we are accepted in the beloved and are citizens in the kingdom of God.  If our confidence is ever in our ability to be faithful or to impress God with our efforts, this is confidence horribly misplaced.  All confidence must always be completely in God, knowing when we are found faithful it is His doing for He has given us His Holy Spirit to help, guide and comfort us.  To God's people who will stand before Him and be judged, Jesus commanded humble, faithful obedience in Luke 17:10:  "So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.'"  Any good that arises from our efforts is all God's doing, and we ought to do good because our Saviour has commanded us and provided an example.  Those who fear and trust God ought not to fear future judgment, for God's perfect love casts out all fear.