{"id":14492,"date":"2013-09-09T01:00:18","date_gmt":"2013-09-09T06:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=14492"},"modified":"2013-09-08T19:18:07","modified_gmt":"2013-09-09T00:18:07","slug":"mercy-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/09\/09\/mercy-grace\/","title":{"rendered":"Esther – Chapter 2:1-6"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmazingMercy_CHayden_Wk2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mercy and Grace!\u00a0 His indisputable, undeniable, unfathomable, irreplaceable, sovereign, humbling, unmerited,\u00a0necessary, unmeasureable, never-ending, overwhelming, amazing mercy and\u00a0grace!<\/p>\n

In Chapter 2 of Esther, the Beauty of Courageous Submission<\/span>, Mrs. Schacht helps us to\u00a0understand the symbolism in comparing Vashti\/Esther to the children of Israel\/the Gentiles (you and me) who are saved by grace.<\/p>\n

What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day.”\u00a0 And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block and a retribution to them.\u00a0 Let their eyes be darkened to see not, and bend their backs forever.”\u00a0 I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they?\u00a0 May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!
\nVerses 7-12<\/p>\n

So incredible!\u00a0 The Amplified Bible\u00a0 translates verse 12: “Now if their stumbling (their lapse, their transgression) has so enriched the world [at large], and if [Israel\u2019s] failure means such riches for the Gentiles, think what an enrichment and greater advantage will follow their full reinstatement!”\u00a0 Such\u00a0proof of God\u2019s mercy and grace!<\/span><\/p>\n

I would like to look\u00a0further into Chapter 11 of the Book of Romans to see more of\u00a0the\u00a0mercy and grace\u00a0of our God.<\/p>\n

Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith.\u00a0 Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either.\u00a0 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God\u2019s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.
\nFor just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy.\u00a0 For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.
\nVerses 20-22, 30-32<\/p>\n

From the beginning, God\u2019s heart has always been for His people, Israel.\u00a0 We know from reading through the Old Testament of His covenant relationship with the Israelites accompanied by His patience and long-suffering.\u00a0 But a time came when enough was enough!\u00a0 The Israelites\/Jews\/Hebrews rejected His Son, the Redeemer.<\/p>\n

In John 1:10 and 11, it says about Jesus that “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.\u00a0 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”<\/p>\n

There is a record of Jesus interacting with the Jews\u00a0in John chapter 10 where they were seemingly taunting Him…at the end of this exchange, they picked up stones to stone Him—and not for the first time either!<\/p>\n

The Jews then gathered around Him…saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”\u00a0 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father\u2019s name, these testify of Me.\u00a0 But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep” (verses 24-26).<\/p>\n

And Jesus was not only rejected…they demanded His execution.\u00a0 Remember the scene in the courtyard when Pilate was determining Jesus\u2019 fate? link<\/a>\u00a0 The crowd called out to \u2018Crucify him!\u2019\u00a0 Standing in the balance was the choice between Barrabas (an insurgent charged with robbery and murder) and Jesus\u2014they chose to set Barrabas free.\u00a0 And Jesus was taken to be crucified.<\/p>\n

Of course we know that all of this was the plot of satan thinking that he could bring an end to God\u2019s plan.\u00a0 But the Jews were instrumental and played right into\u00a0satan’s hand.<\/p>\n

The Apostle Paul wrote quite a bit about the Israelites.<\/p>\n

Brothers and sisters, my heart\u2019s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.\u00a0 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.\u00a0 Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God\u2019s righteousness.\u00a0 Christ is the culmination of the Law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
\nRomans 10:1-4<\/p>\n

Amazing mercy that God would choose to alter His original plan and bring us in along with His chosen ones!\u00a0 Because, you see, He still desires for Israel to repent and\u00a0make Jesus their Lord!\u00a0 Listen to this expression of God\u2019s love for those He selected to be His chosen ones:<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God
\nhave now received mercy as a result of their disobedience,
\nso they too have now become disobedient in order that they too
\nmay now receive mercy as a result of God\u2019s mercy to you.
\nRomans 11:30 and 31<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Perhaps we are tempted to wonder why\u00a0Almighty God would choose to do this…why would He make a change to His plan?\u00a0 But let\u2019s not…instead may we be thankful for His plan.\u00a0 May we humbly acknowledge and praise Him for how AWEsome He is!<\/p>\n

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nHow unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>
\nFor from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nTo Him be the glory forever.\u00a0 Amen.\u00a0 <\/strong>
\nRomans 11:33, 36<\/strong><\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n

Almighty God, we humbly acknowledge Your sovereign wisdom, Your unsearchable judgments, Your unfathomable ways!\u00a0 We stand in awe and gratitude of Your grace…Your mercy towards all mankind!\u00a0 And we thank You for applying that mercy and grace to us\u2014who were grafted in\u2014by Your plan.\u00a0 We love You, Father!<\/p>\n

Amen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mercy and Grace!\u00a0 His indisputable, undeniable, unfathomable, irreplaceable, sovereign, humbling, unmerited,\u00a0necessary, unmeasureable, never-ending, overwhelming, amazing mercy and\u00a0grace! In Chapter 2 of Esther, the Beauty of Courageous Submission, Mrs. Schacht helps us to\u00a0understand the symbolism in comparing Vashti\/Esther to the children of Israel\/the Gentiles (you and me) who are saved by grace. What then? What Israel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":14506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[3511,235,3475,3594,425,454,541,3602,3601,680,3600,3595,3598,3599,3596,3597,3493,1141],"class_list":["post-14492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-womens","tag-book-of-esther","tag-coleen-hayden","tag-darlene-schacht","tag-esther-beauty-of-courageous-submission","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-grace","tag-israelites","tag-john-110-11","tag-john-1024-27","tag-mercy","tag-romans-101-4","tag-romans-11","tag-romans-1120-22","tag-romans-1130-32","tag-romans-1133-36","tag-romans-117-12","tag-vashti","tag-womens-online-bible-study","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/AmazingMercy_CHayden_Wk2.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-3LK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14492"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14541,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14492\/revisions\/14541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}