Esther 8:11 – “The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate any armed force of any nationality or province that might attack them and their women and children; and to plunder the property of their enemies.”

An interesting feature of the story of Esther is that even when the King discovers the plot to exterminate the Jews (Haman was planning to commit genocide), there was no measure taken to prevent this from occurring.  Instead, Mordecai and Esther convinced the King to authorize resistance by God’s people against their enemies.  This was partly due to an unusual feature of ancient Persian law, which made the previous edict irrevocable; the best they could do was try to offset it or cancel it out with an equal counter-measure.  Instead of prohibiting anyone from attacking the Jews, the new edict simply authorized the Jews to assemble and to protect themselves, and to destroy any who attacked them.

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`John 6:14-24 - After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum.  By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading…

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“…And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  - Genesis 12:3

God wants to bless each person individually with salvation and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  In addition, the Bible teaches that God has special blessings he intends to give to families as a whole, not just to individuals in isolation.  

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“Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” - Acts 2:41-42

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1 Corinthians 12:12-13 - ”The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink…”

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1 Corinthians 12:12-13 - ”The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink...”  

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1 Kings 3:26-27 – “The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, ‘Please, my lord, give her the living baby!  Don’t kill him!’”  But the other said, ‘Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!; Then the king gave his ruling: ‘Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother…’”

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Psalm 133 - “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!  It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments.  It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing – life forevermore.” 

This psalm is a profound prophecy about the unity of the body of Christ in the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit’s purpose is to unite God’s true servants together as one body connected to the head – Jesus Christ.   continue

Psalm 74:2 - ”Remember the people you purchased of old, the tribe of your inheritance, whom you redeemed – Mount Zion, where you dwelt.”

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1 Corinthians 12:7-8 - ”Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.  To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit…” 

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are a very important characteristic of the Work that the Lord performs.  Even so, it is very important to be able to discern between what is from the Lord and what is not from the Lord, and to handle the operation of spiritual gifts properly.  Otherwise, we are doomed to have unnecessary disappointments.   continue