The Two Laws – The Stratagem of Our Salvation

A Series of Musings on the Book of Esther - Part Two

Just after the very beginning of the beginning of time...

In a garden - in the midst of that garden...

Were two trees.

"...The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis ii.9, esv)

There were two laws that governed the garden. Two laws that concerned these two trees and the man and woman God had placed in the garden where they grew.

Now, it just so happens that those two trees and those two laws also concern you and I and, in fact, the whole human race. For the very eternity of all mankind rested solely upon those two laws.  

The trees were both fruit-bearing trees and the laws that governed them had to do with the eating of that fruit. The law for the tree of life was eat and live. The law of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was just the opposite - eat and die.

Now before we continue, we should pause to consider how those laws came to be. They were the laws of God - the God who had created the garden and the trees, the man and woman, and you and I. But they weren't just a whim or a fancy of His. But rather a statement of fact. They simply explained how things were - nothing more and nothing less. They explained something about God, something about the trees, and something about the people. They explained the relationship that existed between them all. So, we see that the law wasn't a matter of preference, or a list of rules, so much as a manual. Like that which one has for a car, or for a computer. A manual that tells one how a thing works and why. This is what the two laws were.

The woman, in a story that could be a story all on its own, took of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and ate of it and gave it to her husband who was with her and he ate of it also. Now, you can probably guess what happened. Though you don’t really have to guess at all for the law had stated it quite clearly and the law was a statement of fact.

The man and woman died. But it was not the death we would expect. They didn’t fall down right there and breathe their last. Yet die they surely did. They died in spirit. They died for, like a rose that is cut, they were separated from that which had been their source of life – God Himself. They were bound by a law and that law could not be changed.

Why couldn’t it be changed? Why couldn’t God, in His mercy, make an exception to the law?

To understand that, we must understand God. God was. He is. He always will be. God cannot change. It is simply His nature. It is how He is. He cannot change and He cannot lie and therefore He could not alter the law. Thus, the law was, and is, and always will be. Which was not good news for the man and woman, and is not good news for you and I.

But there was another law - the law of the tree of life.

…

In the days of a king - a king who was very great in his day…

In the land where he ruled, in the palace where he lived…

Was his queen in great distress.

“Then Queen Esther answered and said, “If I have found favour in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated.” (Esther vii. 3-4, nkjv)

There was a law in place in this king’s kingdom, a law that sentenced the queen and her people to death.

It was a law, like the law of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that could not be revoked. For even the king, in all his great power, could not alter or recall the law - the law that had been sent out in his name. Thus, despite the queen’s pleadings, the law was.

And yet, the queen and her people did not die but lived. How?

Because there was another law - another law sent out in the king's name.

This law cancelled out the effects of the first without removing it or changing its nature. It was like the law of aerodynamics which cancels out the effects of the law of gravity while leaving it intact.

 It was this second law saved the people from the death that had come by the first.

…

While a King hung upon a cross - a King who was greater than any king had been since the very beginning of the beginning of time…

In the land where He was ridiculed, on a hill that was very near to a garden…

Was a tree. 

A tree that did not look much like a tree anymore, for it had been hewn and cut into two beams of wood.

That tree was the tree of life. The man upon it was God Himself. He was its fruit and the law that governed it remained the same as it had been long ago in that garden of old. The law was this: eat and live. And the law was.

“If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” (John vi.51, nkjv)

The second law alone could save from the first. The first had condemned mankind for eternity. The second eternally saved them. In this the mercy of God was shown - mercy from the God who could not change, could not lie, and could not alter His law.

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans viii.2, nkjv)

In Christ

quiana

The Die that was Cast – A Picture of Christ in the Book of Esther

A Series of Musings on the Book of Esther - Part One

If I asked you what the book of Esther is all about, what would you say? 

You might say that its the story of a rather incredible girl, who selflessly pleaded for her people at the risk of her life —  and you would be right. 

Or you might say that it is another tale in a collection of tales that tells us how God repeatedly saved and protected His chosen people, the Jews - and you would be right. 

You might say that it is a God-breathed scripture that is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness - and, once again, you would be right. 

But have you also seen in Esther the pictures of Christ and what He accomplished for us on the cross?

Hidden within this historical story is a prelude, an illustration, a picture of the work that our Lord would accomplish on the cross hundreds of years later. This is perhaps the single most important purpose of the book of Esther and, in fact, of all of scripture. In John v.39, Jesus said to the Jews, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me.” 

Every part of scripture is meant to show us our Lord and to help us to better know Him and the work He did on our behalf. Today, I want to share with you just one example of that in the book of Esther. I hope and pray that it will both bless you and challenge you to search the scriptures in order to discover for yourself the hidden witness they give of Him.

A Summary of the Story of Esther

As we begin to read through the book of Esther we quickly find that a plot is forming against the people of God. A character named Haman, elevated to a place of authority – second in command to the king himself – has a grudge against Esther’s cousin, Mordecai because he will not bow down and worship him. But Haman has a problem, he can not just kill Mordecai because he fears the people of Mordecai – the Jews. 

To make a long story short (though I would highly encourage you to read the longer version for yourself), Haman comes up with a plan to kill, not only Mordecai, but the entire Jewish population in a single day. He cast lots to determine on which day they should be annihilated and then, by telling half-truths to King Ahasuerus, he gets him to agree to his plot.

Just like that the fate of the Jews seems to be sealed. 

But then God’s miraculous means of rescue steps onto the scene – Queen Esther. To whom Mordecai says, “who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther iv.14, esv) Esther makes an appeal to King Ahasuerus and Haman’s plot begins to unravel. Haman is executed and the day on which the Jews were supposed to be annihilated becomes instead a day when they annihilate their enemies.

“Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.” (Esther ix. 20-22, esv)

Finding the Connection

If you don't see how this story has anything to do with Christ and His work on the cross, let me give you a clue that might help. Or rather, allow me to show you the clue that is already in the story just waiting to be found. 

It is hidden in a short and seemingly insignificant fact: Haman cast lots to determine on which day the Jews should be annihilated. 

That may sound like a rather trivial piece of information, however, at the end of the story we find that “they called these days Purim, after the term Pur.” (Esther ix.26, esv) “For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush and to destroy them.” (Esther ix.24, esv) 

Apparently, the fact that Haman had cast lots was of enough importance for the the celebration of what God had done to be named after that fact! But what should it mean to us?

Well, where else in scripture do we hear of lots being cast?

We can find a couple different references in God's word to the casting of lots, but I want to draw your attention to a verse in Matthew. Here, we find lots being cast at the very foot of the cross of our Saviour. 

“Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: “They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.” (Matthew xxvii. 35, nkjv)

Now we have to wonder, is this merely a coincidence or is it a brilliantly devised clue? 

To answer that question it is helpful to first gain an understanding of what a lot is and what it meant to cast lots.

 What is Casting Lots?

The practice of casting lots was a way of determining a matter by chance. The lot itself could be any of a number of objects, from straws to pebbles, depending on what was available at the time. 

An example of this practice that would be familiar to you and I would be drawing straws. The classic case of the man who gets the short straw being left to do the, usually unpleasant, task which first gave rise to the straws being drawn. Another modern-day example of casting lots would be the rolling of dice.

You may be familiar with the saying, “the die is cast”. Which, according to the Cambridge English Dictionary, is said ‘when a situation is certain to develop in a particular way because decisions have been taken that cannot be changed.’ In other words, once ‘the die is cast’ the situation is past the point of no return. 

It is quite interesting that this saying ties into our discussion on casting lots while simultaneously describing the situation that Esther faced. When, in chapter viii, King Ahasuerus explains to her and Mordecai that whatever is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring cannot be withdrawn. We see then, that the Jew’s annihilation was, humanly speaking, a sure thing. 

When Haman had gotten the king’s permission, signed his name and stamped the seal with his signet ring, the edict to annihilate the Jews became irrevocable. It was a done deal. It had gone past the point of no return. Yet it was not King Ahasuarus’ word that had the final say but God’s.

“With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew xix. 26, nkjv)

Getting Back to the Cross

On one hand then we have Esther and the rest of the Jews in an impossible-for-men-to-solve situation, on the other hand your probably still trying to figure out how this relates to Christ and the cross. 

Well, it happened that while the first edict could not be withdrawn a second could be sent out. Thus, Esther and Mordecai, with King Ahasuarus’ permission, set to work to draw up a second edict. An edict which declared that, on the day when the Jews were attacked by their enemies, they could rise up to fight and kill all who were against them. 

With this second edict in place, God interceded even further on behalf of the Jews. He put fear of them into the hearts of the rest of the people, so that the people were afraid to come against them and many, including the officials, governors, and royal agents, actually helped them in their plight. Thus, the outcome of the fourteenth day of the month of Adar was entirely different than what Haman had intended it to be.

How does this situation show us the cross? Well, there was another ‘impossible-for-men-to-solve situation’ that had to do with our sin and the wages of it - death. We, like the Jews, were destined for annihilation but ours was to be more than just a physical death. 

As we have seen, there was another day on which lots were cast. It was at the foot of a cross on which hung an innocent man— an innocent man who was also the Son of God. The enemy intended to annihilate Jesus and to destroy the people of God because they would not worship him. It was to be done in a single day. Half-truths were presented to accuse Him and the enemy stood triumphant, assured that his plot could not fail.

As Jesus hung, bloody and dying on the cross, it truly did seem as though the die had been cast. But God is not restricted by human laws nor is He to be defeated by death. The cross that was meant for our and His destruction was turned by God into the single greatest victory that the world has ever seen. 

Rather than a reason for sorrow, the cross became the good news and glad tidings of God to men. Rather than a day for the destruction of God’s Son, and thus His people, it became a day on which God’s enemies and ours were destroyed. God turned the cause of the mourning of the women who knelt at the foot of the cross, just a few feet from the soldiers who were casting lots for his garments, into a reason for celebration.

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.  He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in [Christ].” (Colossians ii.13-15 esv)

In Christ

quiana

The Broken Pot – How to Overcome the Fear of Failure

Clank! A pot – or something that kind of resembled a pot – was set down on Otto’s makeshift desk. Right on top of his open journal. Not again. He gripped the pen that was in his hand just a little tighter as he looked up from his work.

A short man stood on the other side of the desk. He was smiling; his ‘white’ teeth a stark contrast to the dark face.

"My wife say you fix this." The man said.

At least, Otto was pretty sure that was what he had said. He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and reached for the rusted, battered, and badly burned object.  

Everyday!  He thought to himself.  Everyday, without fail, and always just when I sit down to get some real work done!  He looked the pot over - sticking his finger right through a hole that had corroded through the side. This thing is no good! Don't they know what garbage is? 

He knew they didn't. In fact, it was likely that the man or his wife had gotten this pot out of someone's garbage pile in the first place.

He looked up and met the man's eyes again. "No... good." He said, laboriously choosing each words needed to convey his meaning. “I...can't...fix…this.”

Apparently, he thought of the right words for the man's smile disappeared.

"You're no Christian!" The man shouted, throwing the pot to the floor of the little porch on which they stood.

Otto didn’t have to guess the meaning of his words. He had heard that phrase so many times in the last few days that he had it memorized. It was the new response that the natives used whenever he didn't do what they asked him to. They were accusing him of being a hypocrite. Accusing him of preaching something he didn’t practice. Accusing him of not helping them. Yet he hadn't added a single word to his list in over a week because he had been too busy helping them. Besides that, he was doing this language study to help them! The whole point was to learn the language so he could translate the gospel for them.

 With this in mind, Otto was very tempted to shout something back – something that would have been just as nasty. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t because he couldn't seem to remember any insulting words. He had heard the natives shout all sorts of curses at each other, but the phrases never seemed to come to mind when he needed them. With his luck - and God's intervention - he probably would have ended up complimenting the man rather than insulting him anyway. In addition to that problem, he had another - a nagging feeling that they were right.

The man stomped away, leaving Otto alone with the familiar feeling of being a failure. He glanced down at the rust-streaked, but otherwise blank page and the feeling only increased. How he hated that feeling - that feeling of working his hardest and yet getting nowhere! He could just imagine what the missionary board would say when they saw this month’s report. If he ever got around to writing it that was. He would have to say something like: No progress on the language studies. No closer to starting the translation of John. Have been too busy fixing broken pots, busted shovels, bent machetes, and a rusted harmonica. Otto couldn’t help but laugh aloud at his imaginary report, despite how pitiful it sounded.

He rose from his chair, picked up the sorry-looking, little pot at his feet and turned it over in his hands…

Otto Koning had come to Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea to be a missionary and he wasn’t keen on failing that assignment. His job was to win the people over to Jesus. Or, more specifically, to do language studies, keep books, report to the mission board, preach the gospel, and translate the book of John into the native tongue. It was not to spend all his time fixing broken pots, busted shovels, bent machetes, or rusted harmonicas.

Otto had a predetermined vision of what his job in Papua New Guinea should look like and, because of this, he could clearly identify success and he could clearly define failure. But for some reason success always seemed to be out of his reach and failure was constantly frustrating him.  

Most of us, at some point or another, have felt what Otto was struggling with. You know where you need to go, or what you need to do, and yet - try as you might - you just can’t seem to get there! It doesn’t seem to matter how hard we try or how many times we go back to the drawing board because for some reason we’re just bound to fail.

What do we do in that kind of a situation? Well, it seems like there are three options: We can throw in the hat. Quit. Give up. And then try to console ourselves in self-pity. Or we can keep trying. Fight an uphill battle. Be persistent and refuse to ever give up. Or we can choose the third option. We can re-evaluate. We can ask God if our definition of success and our definition of failure is matching His.

Throughout all of his growing-up years, Otto’s dad had told him that he would never amount to anything. He wanted to prove him wrong. He wanted to be a good missionary - to do his job well. Was there anything so bad about that? 

Not really. But what if God’s definition of Otto doing his job well was different from Otto’s definition? What if being a good missionary looked different than what Otto pictured? What if God had a different definition of what it meant to ‘amount to something’ than Otto’s dad had laid out? What if Otto was off in his understanding of what success was? And what if we are too?

The missionary’s assignment was a good one – to win the people over to Jesus. That was done through language studies, book translations, and gospel preaching not through fixing broken-down, no good junk. Right?

Wrong. Otto’s job was to share the gospel and it was just possible that serving the natives by fixing their stuff might do that more effectively than translating the book of John could. Not fixing their stuff didn’t seem to be getting him very far, so Otto decided to put it to the test. He began fixing broken pots, busted shovels, bent machetes, and rusted harmonicas and he did so willingly.

A short time later his supervisor paid him a visit to see how the ministry was getting along. Otto braced himself for the worst. He was dejected. He was miserable - ready to be chided for wasting time. To be excused. Sent home. Deemed a failure as he had feared. The man said,

“What have you been doing!”

 Otto tried to think of some way to explain himself but, a moment later, he found that he wouldn’t have to.

“Otto,” his supervisor continued, “you are ten years ahead of every other missionary we have!”

Otto was incredulous! Apparently, God had a plan in fixing broken pots. Perhaps, He had placed a value even in that rusted harmonica; choosing it to accomplish His purposes!

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs iii.5-6)

How many of us have a pre-determined definition of success? How often do we think that we know what will and won’t get us where we need to go? Do you deem anything that deviates from your plan to be a failure? Do you lean your own understanding, rather than acknowledging God? 

What if true failure isn’t deviating from our plans, but refusing to accept His?

The greatest failure of all is the failure to accept the gift of God – Jesus and the sacrifice He became upon the cross to purchase our salvation. You can have all the success in the world, but if you fail in that one point, success is empty. It means nothing and will vanish away. In the same way, we can try to achieve whatever we want – even try to achieve it for God –  but if it isn’t what He desires for us, if it isn’t where He leads us, what good will it be?

The fear of failure can be overcome simply by choosing to trust fully in the person of our Lord  - not just for eternity but in every day He gives. The exciting news is - He never fails.

“He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.” (I Thessalonians v.24)

In Christ

quiana