Stephen Bailey - Sunday, 25 February 2024
Judgement and Justice
Scripture References: Hebrews 9:27, Psalms 57:1-11, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10
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CloseGod made everything, including us. It was all made good! We were made to rule over the earth under His authority, to bring Him honour and praise for who He is. But, as we learnt last week, we don’t do that. That’s called sin. The attitude and action that says “I am god and God is not.” Surely God won’t stand for that. Surely the Creator of the universe won’t let human beings go on unpunished for their rebellion against Him. The truth is, God has, does, and will judge humanity and the world for its rebellion. That judgement involves death and eternal separation from the Creator. What a bleak future for humanity!
Scripture References: Hebrews 9:27, Psalms 57:1-11, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10
Related Topics: God's Big Picture, God's character | More Messages from Stephen Bailey | Download Audio
| Look to the God-man | Stephen Bailey | Sunday, 14 April 2024 | Kids Talk | Watch | Listen |
| Judgement and Justice | Stephen Bailey | Sunday, 25 February 2024 | Kids Talk | Watch | Listen |
| Proclamation and Practice in Marriage | Stephen Bailey | Sunday, 27 August 2023 | Kids Talk | Watch | Listen |
| Half-hearted | Stephen Bailey | Sunday, 11 June 2023 | Kids Talk | Watch | Listen |
| Growing | Stephen Bailey | Sunday, 26 February 2023 | Kids Talk | Watch | Listen |
| Build One Another Up | Stephen Bailey | Saturday, 21 October 2017 | Listen | ||
| The Parable of the Sower | Stephen Bailey | Sunday, 8 July 2012 | Listen |
We love a turning point. Whether it is a story or a football game. Hope dawning at the darkest time. Where is the great turning point in Esther? It could be our memory verse, when Esther is persuaded by Mordecai to act to save her people. It could be when the king looks with favour upon Esther and holds out the golden scepter to her. It could be when Haman is forced to lead Mordecai through the city mounted on the king’s horse and proclaims that he is the man the king delights to honour. They are major events in the story of Esther. They are turning points of a sort. But the writer of Esther points us to another event. That looks so trivial.
Esther is such an exciting story! There are evil plots. There are interesting yet flawed characters. There is risk and sacrifice. There is heroism and villainy. Today, we are introduced to the villain of the plot, and what an evil scheming villain he is! He spins lies and concocts murderous plans to do away with the Jews, God’s covenant people. How will the people respond? Will he get away with his evil plan? Will God, who is not mentioned at all, intervene to protect His people, to live up to the promises He made to Abraham, the people at Mt Sinai, and to David?
There is so much that sounds familiar in these first two chapters of Esther: the world is dominated by loud and brash and imposing and degraded power, the people of God are small and struggling and faced with ambiguous decisions and actions and God seems so far away he is almost absent (at least to our minds and hearts). As we read this book, we will need God’s revelation to help us navigate its strangeness, its ambiguity, and its confrontational narrative. In this, we have the key to the book—the lack of God’s name in letters does not mean the lack of God’s presence.
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