A CORRUPT DECREE

“If it pleases the king, let a royal decree go out from him, and let it be recorded in the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it will not be altered, that Vashti shall come no more before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she" (Esther 1:19 NKJV).

The king of Persia enacted a very corrupt decree based on bad advice from his counselors. We therefore want to note the punishment in the decree, the perverseness in the decree, and the providence in the decree.

Punishment in the decree – “That Vashti shall come no more before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal position to another.” This decree removed Vashti from being queen. The punishment was unjust because it seek to reward evil for good. Vashti had refused to perform a vile act for the drunken king and was being punished for her stand for good conduct. Vashti is not the only one demoted for excellent conduct. Joseph was put in prison because he refused to be immoral (Gen. 39), and John the Baptist was beheaded because he opposed divorce and remarriage (Mark 6:17-18). Good conduct is seldom rewarded with bouquets in this earth. However, heaven will reward differently.

Perverseness in the decree - The decree was supposedly rebuking insubordination and disrespect of wives for husbands. But the decree so distorted the situation that it made Vashti’s demotion appear to be a result of her disrespect for her husband the king. Truth be told, Vashti was being demoted because of disrespect for her decent behavior. Evil is very clever. It make good look evil and vice versa. This is commonplace in our society today.

Providence in the decree - God is never outsmart by evil. Instead He will cause evil to unwittingly aid His program. This decree, though evil, actually helped to save the Jewish people from annihilation. It resulted in Esther, a Jew, becoming queen and exposing the evil plot to kill the Jews. God can make the wrath of men to praise Him if He so desires (Psalm 76:10). Evil does not have the last word.

(Adapted from Butler Daily Bible Reading)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“Our sense of sin will always be in proportion to our nearness to God!”

Anonymous

Word Study

Drove

In 1 Thess. 2:15 we read, “Who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men” (NASB).

Drove is the Greek word ekdiṓkō (ἐκδιώκω = ek-dee-o'-ko). It is made up of two words: “ek” which means out, and “dioko” which means to pursue, to persecute. Thus, the word means to chase out or drive out from a place, to banish, to persecute harshly. It carries the idea of using tactics that cause the departure of someone from a place.

Here in our verse, Paul states that the Jews pursued Christians out of Judea, painting the picture of them driving or banishing Christians systematically out of their province.

Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus

Old Testament Prophecy – People would sit and stare at Messiah (Psalm 22:17)

New Testament Fulfillment – Matt. 27:36

Bible Facts

God created “lights” in the heavens “for signs and seasons, and for days and years” (Gen. 1:14-16). We now know that a year is the time required for the earth to travel once around the sun. The seasons are caused by the changing position of the earth in relation to the sun. The moon’s phases follow one another in clock-like precision - constituting the lunar calendar. Evolution teaches that the cosmos evolved by random chance, yet the Bible agrees with the observable evidence.

Bible Quiz

Where did Elisha instruct Naaman the leper to wash himself?

**Answer to last week’s trivia: Who said, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out?” Paul (1 Tim. 6:7).

That’s in the Bible

"King of terrors”

“He is uprooted from the shelter of his tent, and they parade him before the king of terrors” (Job 18:14 KJV).

“King of terrors” - The expression “king of terrors” refers to the personification of death. In our passage, the unsaved is like a trapped traveler. Further, there is no safety as “he is uprooted from the safety of his tent.” He tries to make it on his own, but dangers await like a net. Traps and nets were used to catch birds and animals, not people; but the unsaved person is like a beast because he has left God out of his life. Without God, the fate of the unsaved is a lost eternity (eternal death).

Did You Know - Christian History

Meng Ch'ang-ch'un was a direct descendant of the famous Chinese philosopher Confucius. He was attending a conference in T'ung Chow when the news came that the Boxers had destroyed the railroad to Pao-ting Fu and cut communications. The Boxer Rebellion, an angry reaction against western interference in China, raged across China. The government encouraged lawless bands to kill all foreigners and those who had adopted their ways, especially Christians. Thousands of people died.

Meng Ch'ang-ch'un and the other Chinese pastors at Pao-ting Fu were united in their determination. Meng could have fled to nearby Peking where foreign embassies offered some protection; many other Christians did. But he remembered the missionaries who remained behind. “Our missionaries have remained with us; we will stand by them, and live or die together.”

Immediately, he began walking home to certain death. It was a four-day trek through the mob of Boxers, but somehow he arrived safely. Back in Pao-ting Fu, he took up his daily tasks and preached as always. But now he added to his routine the extra burden of sending rank and file Christians to safety.

He also sent away his fifteen-year-old son. The boy pleaded to be allowed to remain and face the danger – even death – with his dad, but Meng reminded him that the family would have no one left to testify about Jesus if both were captured and killed. Reluctantly the boy obeyed.

On Friday June 29, 1900, the Boxers seized Meng. They tied his hands behind his back, dragged him to their heathen altar and lopped off his head. His head was put up for everyone to see as if he were a notorious criminal, but his body was flung into a ditch behind the temple.

The Boxers killed many other Christians at Pao-ting Fu the next day. These included both Chinese nationals and foreigners. Six months later, Meng’s body was dug up and his head and body buried properly together. Early the next year, after the trouble had died down, the city of Pao-ting Fu held a great memorial service for the martyrs. More than half of the banners were in honor of Meng.

A Little Humor

A teacher was examining her fifth graders on what they remembered about the various words that Jesus spoke. One of her questions was this: “What did Jesus say about people getting married?” Little Johnny blurted out: “Jesus said: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“Christ was delivered for our sins that we might be delivered from our sins!”