{"id":6664,"date":"2019-12-17T20:00:04","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T03:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=6664"},"modified":"2019-12-06T23:58:23","modified_gmt":"2019-12-07T06:58:23","slug":"esther9_1-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/esther9_1-18\/","title":{"rendered":"When the Tables Turn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Esther 9:1-18\u00a0\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Esther 9:1-18.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Esther 9:1 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-10:\u00a0 The thirteenth day of the twelfth month was supposed to be a day of great weeping and destruction for the Jews, a day when their enemies had legal authority to annihilate them.\u00a0 But due to a new edict that Mordecai helped put into effect, the legal situation changed, allowing the Jews to assemble, defend themselves and attack their attackers.\u00a0 Due to this change in the law, “the tables were turned” and now the Jews go on the offensive and “attack those who determined to destroy them.”\u00a0 Mordecai himself also grows in prominence, while the ten sons of Haman are killed so as not to eliminate any further threat from Haman’s family.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0The fact that the Jews here go on the offensive against their enemies reminds me of what Jesus says in Matthew\u00a016:18: “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it”.\u00a0 It’s a picture of Jesus’ church on the offensive, storming the gates of hell and expanding Jesus’ territory.\u00a0\u00a0As His church today, may we not just be looking at ways to defend and protect, but at ways we can be on the offensive and take over territory in our city in Jesus’ name.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Just as Mordecai took the edict that stood against the Jews and neutralized its effect with a new edict, Jesus “canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians\u00a02:14).\u00a0\u00a0Jesus brought a revolutionary change to our legal standing before God.<\/strong>\u00a0 Before we were doomed to destruction.\u00a0 Now we are destined to be with God for eternity.\u00a0 Before we were enemies of God. Now we are His friends.\u00a0 Before we were accused.\u00a0 Now we are acquitted and declared not guilty.\u00a0 Before we were spiritual orphans.\u00a0 Now we are God’s children, adopted into His family.<\/p>\n

On verses 11-19:\u00a0 The Jews have already killed 500 men plus the 10 sons of Haman in the capital city of Susa.\u00a0 King Xerxes asks Queen Esther if there is anything else she would like to see done.\u00a0 Queen Esther requests one more day for the Jews to continue attacking those determined to destroy them.\u00a0 The king grants her wish and for one extra day the Jews continue to defend themselves by attacking their attackers, but not taking any plunder.\u00a0 Jews outside of Susa in the other provinces also defended themselves without taking plunder (v16).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 \u00a0Three times in this passage we are told that the Jews did not lay their hands on the plunder (v1,15, and 16), even though they had the right to take plunder from their enemies.\u00a0 This shows that the Jews were not fighting and attacking their enemies for material gain, but for their survival.\u00a0\u00a0Likewise, in the kingdom of God, it’s important to know why we fight and work so hard.\u00a0 We fight for people, not for possessions.\u00a0 \u00a0The reason why we’re in it is to see people saved, not to make a personal fortune.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You that because of Jesus our legal situation has changed, that now we belong to You and we Your people can go on the offensive against Your enemy.\u00a0 Thank You for reminding me today that we fight not to win prestigious prizes and personal possessions, but we fight to win people’s souls and for salvation.\u00a0 May I never forget why we do what we do.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Esther 9:1-18.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Esther 9:1 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0\u00a0On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verses 1-10:\u00a0 The thirteenth day of the twelfth month was supposed to be a day of great weeping and destruction for the Jews, a day when their enemies had legal authority to annihilate them.\u00a0 But due to a new edict that Mordecai helped put into effect, the legal situation changed, allowing the Jews to assemble, defend themselves and attack their attackers.\u00a0 Due to this change in the law, “the tables were turned” and now the Jews go on the offensive and “attack those who determined to destroy them.”\u00a0 Mordecai himself also grows in prominence, while the ten sons of Haman are killed so as not to eliminate any further threat from Haman’s family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6664"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6666,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6664\/revisions\/6666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}