(Reprint from February 11, 2018)
During February as we reflect on Black History, there are parallels in Jewish History as presented in the book of Esther that are captivating to this Pastor. In the intricacy of its plot and the beautiful drama of the book, Esther shows how Divine Providence overrules all things; even in a distant, far country, God’s people are yet in His hands. The book reminds us that the fate of the Jews was not in the hands of their enemies, but of Almighty God. They placed their trust in God who would raise up an “Esther” who would “come to the Kingdom for such a time as this.”
In the far country of slavery, the ugliest testimony of man’s inhumanity to man, the anti-biblical concept of man having dominion over another man, even there was His providence in the midst of His people. It is amazing how through the studying of the scriptures that Africans found themselves an important part of the human race and from those early days of slavery until the early 1900s black children would hear their parents say to them “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory.” (1 Samuel 2:8a)
For the Jews, there was Esther and for African-Americans, there was Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman. There have been great persons of all races, classes and gender who were martyred for the cause of freedom. Freedom is not free! In the book of Esther, there is the inexorable working of divine judgment. Haman was eventually hanged on his own gallows. Dear Ones, let me share three requisites from the Word of God:
- And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
(John 8:32) - If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
(John 8:36) - And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall
reap, if we faint not. (Galatians 6:9)
Be blessed and let us continue.
Pastor J. Amos Jones
