The next book in our series, Lamentations is not what you may call a “happy” biblical book. It is in fact a series of mourning poems and although written thousands of years ago, they can still speak to us today in the midst of our heartaches and struggles. 

Tradition says Jeremiah wrote Lamentations, and it was written immediately following the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BC. We must not miss how devastating this would have been to witness. If you can remember witnessing the worst national tragedy in your life, it would have felt similar and yet also far worse because back during the time of Lamentations, if your city fell, it would have been seen that either your god was angry at you or your god lost to another more powerful god. Israel saw the fall of Jerusalem as a sign of the former reason: God’s displeasure and anger at their sin. This had come after He had sent warning after warning through prophet after prophet warning His people to turn away from wrongdoing and follow Him. God had taken his commitment to be loyal to Israel as seriously as a husband commits to a bride, and yet Israel had not upheld her end of the marriage vows, so He had viewed their loyalty to other idols in terms of committing adultery against Him. Not only was Jerusalem the city destroyed, which was seen as impossible, but all of the parts of society that God’s people had been trusting in were gone. The Temple, the place that symbolized God’s presence among His people was gone. The religious rituals were gone. The king and the military and the wealth, their freedom and independence, all gone. During this time, the people were not doubt asking, “Is God Himself gone too?” The book of Lamentations answers that question at its center, “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lam. 3:22-23) In the midst of his tears and struggling to comprehend, the author clings to this one secure truth: even though we are unfaithful, God is not. His love tempers his wrath, and his compassion always accompanies his judgments. 

The reason this book can still speak to us today is because of its raw relevance. We too have those moments where we realize what we had formerly stood on for security shifts like the ever-moving sand. It is moments like those when we are forced to soberly look in disbelief at those parts of our lives we trusted in that are no longer there. The job we loved is no longer there, the family member we idolized we realize is another human like us, the culture or society does not seem to be embracing the values we esteem, and we too feel like our “Jerusalems” are crumbling underneath us. Yet “the LORD’s great love” is consistently the reason we are not consumed completely, and it is that great love that took on flesh and dwelt among us, Jesus Christ. 

The message of Lamentations 3:22-23 is worded a bit differently but carries the same thrust, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life”. Because of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ, we are not abandoned and given over to the natural consequences of our sins, namely death. However, although our eternal future with Jesus is secure, that does not mean we will not have trouble and struggle in this world. Yet the Gospel does not simply offer us eternal life after death, but a completely transformed life here and now that leads on into eternity. The Holy Spirit indwells us in this new transformed life and is able to give us God’s peace to trust Him even when our worlds turn upside-down. It is God’s very presence through the Holy Spirit that comforts us, stabilizes us, keeps our eyes forward always looking to Christ. This world is cruel and unfair, broken by sin, but God is not either of these, for He is sinless. Our world may fall to pieces but God will give us peace. It is this peace that we display in our lives in the midst of hardship that often attracts unbelievers to the gospel. We communicate through our lives that there is Someone who will never fail us and who will never fail them either, and He is inviting them to trust in Him too, because His love is available to all who would accept it.  Remember this familiar hymn lyric: Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not. As Thou hast been Thou forever will be.” In a world of constant change, remember God never does, and His love for you never will either. 

Your Brother,

Craig

Traveling through the Bible now brings us to a book that is as challenging as it is insightful both to ancient audiences as well as today, the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a prophet who lived and preached during rough political times in Judah (southern Israel). There were alliances being formed with pagan nations which was against God’s commandments for His people. This was done to ward off threats from other pagan nations that threatened to invade Israel because rather than trust in God as the king and the people were supposed to, they began to trust in military alliances, kings, their own power. God had saved Israel from slavery in Egypt and had crafted a covenant, an agreement, with them where He would be their God and they would be His people. In essence, God and Israel had entered into a marriage. Yet, whereas God was the committed husband, Israel was the unfaithful wife and the biblical text uses language to convey as such. 

Jeremiah was chosen by God to attempt to change all of that. He prophesied to the people, urging them not to trust in military power, divine human kingship, or even their own religion, for all of these had become corrupt but to trust in God, the incorruptible. The military was not all-powerful, the kings of Judah had forsaken the Lord, and even the priesthood of the Temple was not reflecting God, yet He was still in control and could be trusted. What has always saddened me about Jeremiah’s story is that he spent nearly his whole life preaching to a people who would not listen to him! The only reason I can find for why he continued to do so is because he wanted to be faithful to God, who’s eyes were the only eyes that mattered. Despite Jeremiah’s best efforts, Judah was destroyed by Babylon in 586 BC, the people were killed or enslaved, and the Temple was leveled to the ground. All hope seemed lost, and yet Jeremiah gave the people hope. He said that in the future there would be a “new covenant”, not like the one that came before it, but one that looked more like the agreement God had with Abraham, through faith. God would take His law and write it not on stone tablets, but on the human heart, meaning that through the Holy Spirit applying Christ’s sacrifice and grace to our hearts, our entire human nature would be changed so that we would want to obey God and delight in doing His will. One further point about Jeremiah ought to be stressed: He wrote to the exiles in Babylon he gave them advice that may have seemed strange at first. On the one hand, some Jews wanted to rebel against their invaders in which case they could face death. On the other hand, they could just forsake their culture, religion, and God and just blend in and become Babylonians. Jeremiah suggests a third option: go into exile and wherever you are, be faithful to God so that you will show others what it means to be in a relationship with Him, to be a special people and work for the good of wherever city you end up. 

This is our situation as Christians today. Yes, the temptation is always there to trust in other worldly powers for salvation, yet we must remain faithful to trust in the One who has always been faithful to us. Whereas Jeremiah could only look forward to this new covenant, we as Christians can joyfully look back in history to the moment when that covenant was created, signed, sealed, and applied to us: the cross and resurrection of Jesus. At the Last Supper, it was this covenant which guaranteed our “forgiveness of sins” which freed us to be in a relationship with God. Part of that relationship is to take the final point of Jeremiah to heart. We Christians are to be “in the world, but not of the world”. We cannot forsake and abandon our faith, but we also should not “bunker down” and not be in the world. We can shine Jesus’ light anywhere we go, our workplaces, families, friends, social gatherings, everywhere! We must remember Christ and maintain our integrity, but not be afraid to “put ourselves out there”. We should be befriending those who are not Christians for how else can they experience the gospel unless they see it in our lives? We are God’s people in Jesus Christ and this broken world is our “Babylon” for we have dual-citizenship, one here and one in God’s kingdom and we are to live out the later while we live in the former. For this is how we will be salt and light, purifying and illuminating the world so as to show them Jesus Christ, our true priest and King.

Your Brother,

Craig

Traveling along the road through the Scriptures, we now come to rest at the book of Isaiah. Many of us have read portions from the book of Isaiah even if we didn’t realize we were doing so. Remember the Christmas stories? Many of the strands that weave the story together comes from Isaiah. Even read Matthew’s entire gospel? He is led by the Holy Spirit to look at Isaiah in order to understand Jesus. Throughout the book of Isaiah, especially the latter half (verses 40-66), we see verses that point to Jesus Christ’s birth, death, resurrection, glorification, and so much more. This is truly marvelous and miraculous when we consider the point that Isaiah was written nearly 700 years before Jesus had arrived on earth. Interestingly enough, because his writings have found fulfillment in the Savior, Isaiah has sometimes been nicknamed “the Fifth Gospel”. Furthermore, another interesting fact to point out is that there are 66 books in the Bible as there are 66 chapters in Isaiah. The first 39 books are known to us as the Old Testament, and the first 39 chapters of Isaiah deal with many Old Testament themes. The remaining 27 books of the Bible are what we Christians called the New Testament, and likewise Isaiah 40-66 has 27 chapters and the theme dramatically shifts, from Israel’s sin and God’s judgment to God’s promise of a deliverer in order to save Israel. 

It was not easy for Isaiah to do this, for he had been the potential to make his way up into the world and become a part of high society. His could have lived his life on easy street, but God had more important work for him to do. His country was in the midst of political and international turmoil, and Isaiah was given the difficult task of speaking truth to power, not only by telling people of their sins and the impending judgment, but also that God is their only true source of salvation and that nothing else could save. 

The relevance for this book for us living today is to remember that what happened to Israel on a small scale is what had happened to all of humanity on a grand scale. All human beings walked away from a relationship with God. Yet, the hope lies in the fact that just as a Savior had come as Isaiah predicted who would be called, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace” that this Savior is not merely meant to save Israel but all of humanity. 

Isaiah also gives us a clue as to how this will all come about: the King of Kings would come, and He would bring victory, but that victory would come through His own suffering throughout His life and especially on the cross. There could be (and probably are) many books written on the topic of Isa. 52:13-53:12, but the key remains the same, “by His stripes, we are healed”. This healing means we have been forgiven of sin and given a new start. 

The same message that was given to Isaiah has been given to us not simply to speak to one individual or one country but all the nations of the world. For just as all have been affected by sin, all now have the opportunity to come to this same Suffering Servant, this Glorious King of Kings. While Isaiah could only look forward in faith and catch a glimpse of who this Savior was, we in the church today have the blessing of looking back and knowing that He is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and by believing we may have life in His name. This holy responsibility is not always an easy one, and like Isaiah, we in the church stand as a prophetic witness, speaking truth to power today, but also like Isaiah, we do not have to fear that we do this alone. When Isaiah was first called by God to be a prophet, he admitted he was a sinner, and called himself a “man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips”, and yet God equipped Isaiah with the Holy Spirit to do the work He called Isaiah to do. So also we as Christians, although we too are sinners, have been summoned by God through His Son Jesus Christ. And like Isaiah, we have been equipped with the Holy Spirit to speak, think, act, and share this gospel to all. 

Read through the book of Isaiah, especially the last 27 chapters and notice the picture emerging. What once was broken has become, through the Servant, restored and this means a new creation has come to birth. Keep reading to see what this new creation is like, as it starts with the coming of the Servant and continues on into eternity. This is done through the One that Isaiah had spoken of in his familiar words we read at Christmastime: “Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him ‘Immanuel’ which means “God with us”, and the blessed news is that He is still with us today!

Your Brother,

Craig

As spring seems to have sprung upon us and the temperatures get warmer, life seems to have returned to nature and new life is being created. It warms the heart and recalls to mind the idea of love. The next book of the Bible in our newsletter series discusses that exact topic: love. Song of Solomon may not be familiar to some, but its message is as relevant today as it was when it was first written, and contained within its words is the perfect expression of romantic love. Furthermore, that love looks beyond itself and points to God’s love for us through the metaphor of marriage. Although Song of Solomon (Songs) contains wordage we normally would not discuss in polite company, the truth that underlies the book must be known to us as Christians so that we can speak to a broken, hurting world that has lost and corrupted the idea of love even as it strives to find it.

Song of Solomon is a poem of love between a man and a woman, describing love as it was meant to be without the effects of sin: intimate, without shame, characterized by genuine admiration and care for each other. This is not only an ideal to strive for in marriage (or to a lesser extent, all of our relationships), but also important for us to understand God’s love for us. Within the love relationship contained in this text, both the husband and the wife give themselves wholly to each other. This is often the opposite of “Hollywood” and our culture’s ideas toward marriage, which is viewed as old-fashioned, dull, boring, or even scandalous. Sin breaks our relationships including marriage by tempting us with selfishness or “how can I get what I want from the other person?” Song of Solomon writes just the opposite, “how can I give myself completely to the other person, sacrificing for their benefit?” This is a beautiful gift of God for when a man and a woman unite in marriage and in the activity that accompanies it, then they really do become “one flesh”. An interesting illustration of this can be seen when we look at couples who have been happily married for a long time. The two of them become one in the sense that they start to act like each other! They finish each other’s sentences, know each other’s thoughts, even begin to look like each other in some cases. Self-sacrificial love is the pattern we seek to embody in our relationships because it is the pattern God Himself lived for us!

God describes His relationship with his people like a marriage (Eph. 5:22-33). In the person of His Son, He too gives himself to us and for us. Jesus Christ embodies God’s self-sacrificial love for us (Rom. 5:8). In Jesus Christ, we see God’s determination that nothing can stand in His way as He pursues us in His love, not even our own sinfulness. His all-consuming focus is on securing a relationship with us, the creatures that He loves so much. It is that self-sacrificial love that took on flesh and walked among us, that knelt down to wash feet, and that bore the nails of the cross in His hands in order to wash away our sins and give us the victory and new life in Him. His love is what gives us life. Take heart as you read these words. You are never so far gone away from the Lord as to outrun His love for you. He continues to court us until we reciprocate his affection and like Song of Solomon says, “My beloved is mine and I am his” (2:16). 

When we respond in kind to God’s love, we too will be transformed so that we start to act like Him. We will think His thoughts after Him, and when people see us, they will see God’s love and grace being lived out, not merely spoken about. The more we grow in our relationship the more godly our lives will become because it is the Holy Spirit changing us from the inside out, weaving God’s love into every fiber of our being so that we can cultivate it and share it with others. God became like us so that we may become like Him. We become like those we love. If we love the world and things of the world, we will start to look like that, but if we love God, then we will start to look more and more like Him. God has provided us the gift of self-sacrificial love to be enjoyed in our relationships with others, but He also embodied that self-sacrificial love so that we could be forgiven and have and enjoy a relationship with Him. This is the goal of the Christian: To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. 

I once heard it put this way: the reason that a new life is made when two separate lives come together is because the love of the two could not be contained so a new third life naturally emerged. If you are married, read the Song of Solomon as husband and wife. If you don’t have a spouse (even if you do!) read it as a beautiful illustration of God’s love for you. Teach its message to your children and all those around you so that they will know and see what love is like in the Kingdom of God. Show the culture that love and intimacy are not selfish, hedonistic pleasures to indulge in, but beautiful gifts of God to be eternally enjoyed. 

Your Brother, 

Craig

There was a story of a man who had lost his ring, and went outside and knelt down to the grass to look for it. Soon, his friend stopped by and offered to help, asking “Where did you last see your ring?” “In the house” the man answered. “So why are you looking outside for it?” asked his friend. The man only answered “Well, the light is better out here!” 

Sometimes that is exactly our story; we look for the right thing but in all the wrong places. As we continue our walk through the Scriptures in our newsletter series, the author of Ecclesiastes blazes a trail for us to walk, initially by showing us all the wrong places he went looking for the meaning of life, and then finally arriving at the only source that gave it to him: God. 

Our world today continues to believe and promote the idea that material possessions bring lasting satisfaction, but Ecclesiastes says no. The flesh teases us with the notion that pleasure is the meaning of life, Ecclesiastes says, “I tried it, it is not”. Even some of the good things like wisdom and hard work, if they are elevated from being good things to “ultimate things” will leave us in disappointment. What we chase is as unreliable as a puff of wind, and if we set our hearts on only obtaining these things, we will find ourselves crying out with Ecclesiastes, “meaningless! It is all meaningless!” 

The solution to this is to change our perspective. Rather than looking for meaning “under the sun” as the writer of Ecclesiastes tries to do, we as Christians must look for meaning “under the SON” meaning under Christ and His kingdom. On our own we cannot figure out life’s meaning. That is not to say that it does not have meaning, but it cannot be found in the created realm. Rather we must look to the Creator to find it. The meaning lies not in the things that bring us satisfaction, but instead that bring God glory. The goal for the Christian in life is to make these two things one and the same. If our ultimate goal is what Paul talks about in his letter to the Corinthians, that “whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do the glory of God” then this will bring us freedom. It will guarantee us that we can enjoy each of the different realms of life (pleasure, work, material possessions) without feeling like we have to build our entire lives around them or derive our meaning from them. Rather than ruling over us as idols, these things will serve their God-given purpose in our lives because we will see them as servants rather than as masters. 

To find true life in Jesus Christ means to find a life full of abundance, meaning, and purpose, and thankfully the author of Ecclesiastes does end his journey at a good place, “to fear the Lord and to keep His commandments. This is the entire duty of man”. May you find that in your relationship with God through Jesus Christ, you have meaning and purpose.

Your Brother,

Craig

As we continue our series going through each book of the Bible, we arrive at Proverbs, the book of practical Christian living. Although we all may sometimes wonder what the Bible has to say to us in our modern day-to-day lives, Proverbs answers this by teaching us simple truths that we can savor, as we make decisions. Proverbs calls to us to evaluate situations in our lives in the light of who God is and who He has redeemed us to be: a transformed people who are sent to transform others.

The beginnings of a foundation for being wise is to know God. Proverbs 9:10 starts the building process for us: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This fear is not one of terror but of awe. It is recognizing that God is greater than us not simply in terms of power but in goodness, and that awe ought not to scare us but compel us, beckon us with an inviting hand to say “God is good. Trust Him”. From that solid base we begin to build how we view everything in the world, and we also begin to grow in grace and in holiness. 

There is one point to make about Proverbs. They are insights about life and the world around us, and they reflect the belief that God has placed an order in the world around us. Sadly, this world is also broken by sin, throwing the order haywire, but God’s grace has always kept it from collapsing. As such, many Proverbs are not “guarantees” as much as they are increasing the odds of getting the desired result. It is as though the authors are saying to us, “Heed our advice, and this probably will work. Fail to listen and this certainly won’t work”. At the same time, however, we ought to live wise lives because we are thankful to God rather than only being worried about the results. Leave the results to God. He will take care of all of it. 

If you think this living wisely is a nice but unattainable goal, God has given us an example of a human doing just that, living in perfect wisdom because He is wisdom: Jesus Christ. God became human in the person of His Son to free us from the power of sin and restore our relationship with Him. For this to happen, Jesus Christ needed to be sinless. As such if we look at His life, we see how a human being should live as God intended: to be wise. Jesus is wisdom from God, and so to become truly wise is to embrace Jesus, to surrender and allow the Holy Spirit to transform us down to our very thinking (Rom. 12:2). When we are shaped by Christ’s Spirit, we get the wisdom God desires because we become like His Son. To become wise is to become like Jesus. In Him we have both the power and the example to live as God intended us to live, to bear His image clearly, and to live our lives for the sake of others. In short, we have both the freedom and the strength to live as the church God intends for us to be: a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, bringing God to people and people to God. 

Your Brother,

Craig

Music can speak to us in ways that mere words fail to do. I am sure that most of us can recall our favorite hymns or songs and maybe even sing them without missing a beat! Music is one of the greatest gifts God has bestowed upon humanity, and it can communicate the deep truths of Scripture so powerfully that even the best sermon pales by comparison. As we continue our travels through the Bible during our newsletter series, we encounter such a collection of music that for some is their favorite book of Scripture, the book of Psalms. 

The Psalms are the hymnbook of Israel, and now of the Church. There is so much that is contained within this book spanning 150 different chapters that we won’t have time in this short newsletter article to cover it all. Yet, I will highlight a few points that I pray will stir in us a desire to not only read this book but to also incorporate it into our daily lives as it teaches us about God and his ways. 

First, as one of my study Bibles points out,  “the Psalms have become for the Church, as for ancient Israel, a book of prayer and praise. All reach their fulfillment in Christ, the Son of God. Not only do the Psalms predict specific events of Christ’s life, but in them He Himself intercedes for and with His people before the Father. The Psalms could also be seen as a dialogue between the Church (the body of Christ), and Christ (the head). Therefore, they make the most sense to us when they are prayed, not simply read.” 

If you have been noticing, I have tried to put a “psalm reading” at the beginning of our worship service after the announcements. This was done intentionally for two reasons. First, I wanted our church to have more exposure to more weekly Scripture so that we would know God’s Word. Secondly (and more importantly), the Psalms are a way that we as a church can ready our hearts and minds to worship the Lord, to answer His summoning call for us to stop our busy lives, pause, and lift our hearts in joy and honor to Him.

Second, the structure of the Psalms, with its five books (Ps. 1-41; 42-72; 73-89; 90-106; 107-150), calls to our minds the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, which is “sacred history”, recalling not just a bunch of one time events (the exodus out of Egypt), but also pointing the way to our own exodus from sin. The Psalms-with their many forms and voices-are to be understood together as the law of God in song. 

Finally, most importantly and more personally, the Psalms follow one basic pattern: knowing that God is good, questioning the evil in the world, and then circling back to resting and trusting in Him. This too is a pattern for our lives. We may believe, but we see the hurting world around us and in our own hearts we cry out, and that is where God meets us with the reassurance that He, not death, suffering, or evil, but He is the strongest, most good in the universe and that we can trust Him. 

The Psalms can build our individual relationships with God by lending language, expression, and emotions to our prayer lives. If when you pray, you find your words stagnant, unengaging, repetitive, or dull, then turn to the Psalms. I guarantee you for every hardship, tragedy, joy, struggle, pain, or ecstasy, there is a Psalm out there that matches it. Take comfort knowing that believers who have come before us have faced what we face and have found courage to remain faithful to God by looking at the Psalms and rediscovering His faithfulness. 

May you be blessed in your reading,

Your Brother,

Craig

During uncertain times like this, it is natural that many of us cam be overcome by fear. The truth to remember is that Jesus is not only “God with us” or Immanuel only at Christmastime, but throughout the whole year. This means God’s very presence through the Holy Spirit goes with us, comforting us, guiding us, walking alongside us in both our best and worst moments of life. 

This Scriptural truth is important to ground us firmly as we continue to travel through the Bible and reach the book of Job. Job was a righteous man, yet disaster came upon him in the form of his children dying, his wealth vanishing, and his health failing. The entire rest of the book he and his three “friends” wrestle back and forth with the “why” behind Job’s struggle. Has he sinned? Surely God must be punishing him? Job maintains innocence. What Job truly desires is what we all desire when life knocks us to the ground for no reason…answers. Why has this happened to us? Have we done something wrong? 

Job does finally receive an answer at the end of the book, as well as a happy ending. However, the answer wasn’t what he was expecting. Instead, God presents a resume of all His creation and then in doing so, is asking Job, “if I can handle and govern and rightly rule and guide all of this, can I not care for you as well?” 

Interestingly enough, another way to view Job in light of the whole Bible is to look a bit further in God’s story. What Job wanted is for God to put Himself “on the dock” or but subject to human questioning. In other words, Job wanted God not to hide behind His mighty power, but to lower Himself. In Jesus Christ, God did exactly that. If Job could travel forward in time, he might have gotten jealous of Pilate because Pilate did exactly that: questioned God Himself and found nothing wrong with Him. Still, this God was willing to suffer the consequences of what He did not do so that we would not have to suffer the consequences of what we did do. 

Do not be afraid to struggle in your walk with God. I know I do. Do not be afraid to question and even to doubt, yet when do you, press in hard to find the answers. Job wrestled with God as was finally vindicated, given back double what he had lost. God is also with you through your struggles, and He is more that capable of taking care of you, even in your worst of pain. Jesus Christ teaches us that God is both with us in our struggles and has the power to bring us through them. 

Your Brother,

Craig

The story of God’s people found in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah recount how the Lord returned the Israelites to the Promised Land after they had been in exile for decades. Although they had sinned and were punished by being sent to a foreign empire’s capital, God’s promise to use them to redeem the world was still going forward for nothing can stop His plans. Even after they had returned, the Bible leaves us with an impression that “exile” has not fully ended yet for Israel, for the rebuilt temple did not have the glory of Solomon’s, there was no king on the throne, and Israel was not a free country. Israel’s story parallels the story of humanity: Ever since Genesis 3, mankind has been in “exile” as the results of sin and we, like Israel, had not been fulfilling our true purpose as “image-bearers” of God, giving our loyalty to idols, and worshipping the creation instead of the Creator. With Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, we as humans have been re-created with a purpose that was our original one: to reflect God as mirrors reflect light. 

Yet, there is still a lingering question as we read Ezra and Nehemiah: What about those Jews that did not go back to the Promised Land? What became of them? And how can we learn anything about God through a book that doesn’t even mention Him at all? Well, those questions and more await as you read through the next book in our timeline: Esther. Esther was the Persian name given to a young Jewish teenage girl named Hadasseh. She lived with her uncle Morecai in Persia (modern-day Iran) during the reign of the Persian empire. In short, the Persian King dismisses his first wife and must therefore re-marry. Esther becomes the king’s choice as his new bride, however her Jewish identity is not known as her name has been changed. Although most Jews probably saw themselves as harmless, trying to live as the people of God while adjusting to the foreign life far from home, they unique ethnic and religious identity and their worship of the one, true God led to problems. In cultures that worshipped various gods, the Jews’ behavior was viewed as criminally suspicious and could lead to capital punishment!

Yet, even as He is not mentioned, God is still at work behind the scenes, directing this story exactly as He wants it to go. There is a plot created to assassinate every Jew living in Persia, an ancient holocaust, yet Esther and Moredecai are given the opportunity to overturn the plot and save God’s people from certain annihilation. It took courage, wisdom, and most of all faith, but these servants of God acted upon what they knew was right, and in doing so saved hundreds of thousands of people! (I am giving you the short version here, but if you want the exciting story in its entirety, read it for yourself because it isn’t that long!)

What lessons as Christians can we glean from this amazing story? First, God is always in control, even if it seems like He isn’t around. I know we take this lesson as granted sometimes, but trust in this truth and know that He is good, and it will give you peace. Second, living as God’s people calls us to do hold two things together: work for the benefit of whatever society in which we find ourselves and also do so while living faithfully to God in all ways. This will naturally set us apart from the rest of the world, which is not easy, but take heart God is using the church to be salt and light for the redemption of the world. Third, God may have put you in a situation where He will use you to accomplish His purposes. Remember, you life is not an accident, and nothing ever happens by chance. Whatever stage your life is currently in, be willing to be used by God, for He has called you “for just such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). 

I know that I am not a professional contractor, but what little that I have done has taught me one thing: tearing down is much easier than building up (or trying to rebuild afterwards). When you destroy or tear apart something, pieces go in different spots, tools end up in different places, and if you aren’t careful you may lose something you will need later! The point is that rebuilding is a difficult process. Ezra, the person for whom the next book in our monthly series is named, knew that firsthand. Ezra, along with Nehemiah and others, returned to the Promised Land decades after the Israelites had been taken captive as refugees. Under the Kings that had followed David and Solomon, the people gradually drifted away from following God and had turned to following idols instead. Despite warning after warning from God’s prophets, they had refused to turn from their evil ways and thus were captured and exiled to a far-off land. Nearly seventy years later they had been allowed to return, but they had rebuilding to do.

When Ezra and his group of Jewish refugees returned, they set about rebuilding Jerusalem, but it was not always a unified effort. Struggle came in the form of still being under the rule of a foreign government (rather than be an independent nation with their own king like they had been accustomed), and also internal strife. Ezra and Nehemiah needed to remind the people something that every church needs to understand: they are God’s people. Our identity rests on who we are made and redeemed to be in Him. Ezra needed to remind them that God’s faithfulness and his power are stronger and more constant than any human empire. Despite the hardships that we endure even today, this lesson from ages past is still just as fresh today as it was then, and we need to hear it. Friends, God has not abandoned you. He is with you through every struggle, and I know I need to preach that to myself very often, if not every day. 

One final note on Ezra. Even after they had completed a new temple in Jerusalem (one of their top priorities), it did not have the splendor of the first temple built under Solomon when Israel was at the peak of its glory as God’s kingdom of priests. The main reason was that while the building had been rebuilt, God’s glory had not returned, and it was not present in the second temple as it had been the first. So in a sense, Israel, while having returned to the land were still in “exile” because God’s glory was not present. Soon, however that would all change. God’s glory would return, but not dwell in a building. Instead that glory would “take on flesh and dwell among us” (John 1). In the person of Jesus Christ, God had returned to His people! Through His crucifixion and resurrection the greater exile was over! This exile was not of simply one people (the Jews) away from their Promised Land and God’s presence due to their sins. Instead, the bigger picture emerges. We see this when we look at Genesis. In Eden, we as one people (humanity) were exiled from our Promised Land and God’s presence (Eden) due to our sin. Now, in Jesus Christ, God had returned to humanity, taking on humanity in order to redeem humanity. Through the cross and resurrection, our exile is over! The powers of darkness and death have been defeated, and now we understand “temple” not as a place to visit God, but His dwelling inside each one of our hearts when we become followers of Christ. The beginning of new life is now friends, and it will be completed when, as we see in Revelation, God will once again dwell with humanity in fullness and in a new garden. We will be restored and no longer will death hold any power whatsoever, and every tear will be wiped away. That is the best news ever given to humanity. Dear friends of Conemaugh, I pray that would be the good news we speak and live daily. 

Your Brother,

Craig