Daily Devotionals

'Every Day Light' with Selwyn Hughes

Devotional: June 26th

For Reading and Meditation:
     Esther 8:3-17

Esther';s next task is to try to persuade the king to overrule the edict which called for the annihilation of the Jews. This was not as easy as it sounds, however, for the laws of the Medes and Persians were inviolable. Not even the king himself could revoke them once they had been established. It occurs to the king that although he cannot revoke the law, he can issue a new one which would modify the effects of the first one. Xerxes gives Mordecai the task of drawing up this new edict. Once completed and accepted, the new law is translated into the different languages, published in Susa, then quickly distributed to all parts of the empire. How wonderfully these events illustrate the story of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's law of holiness, just like the laws of the Medes and Persians, is inviolable. The Scripture declares clearly and emphatically: "The soul who sins is the one who will die" (Ezekiel 18:4). Nothing could be done to revoke that edict. Christ, however, by His intervention of the Cross, took our sins into Himself and thereby brought into existence a new law which ensures that all who come and stand at the Cross and accept Him as their Lord and Savior will be saved. That new law, too, has been published in many languages and carried to the farthest parts of the earth. It is called, as you know, "the good news." How thrilling it would be if, in all parts of the world, it was received in the same way as the new edict was received in Susa - with delight and gladness and honor.

Father, how marvelous is the message of the gospel. Your law demanded my death, but Your love arranged for Jesus to die in my place. Help me to be as vocal about this as I am about other things. In Jesus' Name. Amen.