The first place Jesus takes his disciples (John 2:1-11)
Alan Thomas
11th August 2019
14,510 Kb
Description
Alan reflects with us on Jesus' first sign in the gospel of John, the turning of water into wine at the wedding in Cana. Enjoy the life that is given to you.
And so the story unfolds to its logical end. Haman’s worship of power overwhelmed him; Esther’s acceptance of the possibility of death (4:16) allowed her to find strength in her weakness. We, too, are called to lose our life in order to find it.
The famous vision of the valley of dry bones is not just about Israel, but also a sign of God’s power over death: as so often, the Hebrew scriptures offer a foretaste of what is to come.
Haman plots for Mordecai’s downfall and his own exaltation—and the author of the book spells it out with glee, making sure that we, as readers, already spot how the tables will be turned. Justice is not always done as easily as this, of course, but our righteous God will see to it that, no matter how fallen our world, justice will emerge victorious in the end.
Esther displays both bravery and cunning as she engineers her way out of the predicament. Perhaps we are reminded of the way Jesus encourages us to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
In Hebrews 1, Jesus the Son stands revealed as 'the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.' David explored with us what that means.
We are still going through the big story and consider this, the greatest king of Israel—until the last King in his line hundreds of years later, that is. Him is promised a throne to be established forever.
Esther now stands before a terrible decision. Should she risk her life to save her people? Isn’t it
interesting how God is silent at this crucial point, as he seems to have been throughout the book so far... or is he?
The REVIVE Unity Service this year focused on engagement with our communities. Debra Green of Redeeming our Communities (ROC) joined us with a powerful call to prayer.
We think about the sacrifice of the lamb, part of God’s design to free his people from slavery, pointing forward to another Lamb, a greater sacrifice, and a greater freedom from a more profound slavery.
Haman persuades the king to decree the Israelites’ destruction. We would all like to believe that we would resist such an order, but recent history tells us that few do. What does the Lord call us to do?
