Wednesday, February 18, 2009

I visited with The King

Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a High Priest who has passedthrough the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15: For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
16:Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that me may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Isn't it wonderful to know that Jesus Christ is our king, and because he gave His life on the cross and rose again we can have direct access to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We no longer have to go to a priest or human agent to reach God. We have direct communication to Him, because the curtain to the throne room was torn in two the moment He said, "It is finished!" and then he breathed His last breath. We now can speak to the Father through Jesus who is The Way, The Truth and The Life. Without Christ it would be impossible to reach the Father.

We have a biblical illustration of what this experience is like in the life of Queen Esther. King Ahasuerus had as his queen Vashti. She became disobedient and lost her position. A search was made to replace her and many young woman were brought to the citadel to choose from. Of all the choices the king selects Hadasseh who was an orphan and a Jew. In normal circumstances, she would have not been considered even close to being a possibility. The young ladies would take turns appearing before the king, and many of them put on fancy jewelry and fancy clothes. Not Hadasseh, she came with what she had on. Nothing special for her, and she was the one that was chosen.

Later in the story Haman, the head prince made a decree that all Jews would be destroyed, and the king allowed it to become law. The queen's name was changed to Esther. Later Haman was ordered to be killed by the king. As Esther learned about the decree, she had to come up with a plan to save her people. It involved appearing before the king, and asking him for mercy. There was a problem though. If you go to the king when he is sitting on the throne, he has a choice, he can order you to be punished sometimes by death or he reaches out his golden sceptor which means he will commune with you. Esther was desperate to try to save her people and she said before she approached him' "If I die, I die." He did reach out his sceptor to her. He could not reverse the first decree, but wrote another that allowed the Jews to defend themselves against anyone who opposed them, and many of her people were saved from death.

We also deserve death. But the King who is also our Father who created us extended to us a golden scepter in the form of the cross of calvary. He gave us His only begotten Son who became the new and living way when He chose to be obedient even to death on that cross. so we now like Queen Esther can approach the throne with boldness and confidence. As Esther expressed her bravery to save her people from death, may we also have that same desire to save a dying world of people by sharing the gospel message and showing people how they too can come to the throne where they will receive mercy and grace in their time of need.

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