Day 63 – Different

Esther 3:1 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above the princes with him. 2 The king’s servants within the king’s gate bowed and paid homage to Haman, for so the king had commanded concerning him. However, Mordecai would not bow or pay homage.

 3 Then the king’s servants within the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you transgress the king’s command?”

 4 Now it happened, when they spoke to him daily and he would not listen to them, that they told it to Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s words would stand; for Mordecai had told them he was a Jew.

 5 When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage, Haman was filled with wrath. 6 However, he disdained laying hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai. Instead, Haman sought to destroy the Jews throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus—the people of Mordecai.

 7 In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, the lot), before Haman to determine the day and the month, until it fell on the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

 8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from other peoples, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore, it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. 9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”

 10 Then the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. 11 The king said to Haman, “The money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you.”

 12 Then the king’s scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and a decree was written according to everything Haman commanded—to the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province, to the officials of people, to every province according to its script, and to every people in their language. In the name of King Ahasuerus, it was written and sealed with the king’s signet ring. 13 The letters were sent by couriers into the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions. 14 A copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province, being published for people, that they should be ready for that day.

 15 The couriers went out, hastened by the king’s command; and the decree was proclaimed in Shushan the citadel. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed.

God’s name:

Yeshuwa – Jesus

Elohiym – Supreme God

Iesous – Jesus

Christos – Anointed One, Messiah

Pater – Father

Huios – Son

Hagios Pneuma – Sacred, Holy, Violent Wind, Breath, Spirit

God’s character:

Protector

Racial hatred runs deep in many people. Many people want to destroy those with different skin types, ethnicity, and religion. In World War II, Adolph Hitler wanted to destroy the Jews and interred them in prison camps and killed them in gas chambers. Over one million Jews were killed in World War II. People not only want to destroy people because of their skin color and ethnicity, they make them slaves and treat them as though they aren’t people. You see it among Asian ethnicities, Black Africans, and even those who have different ideas than yours. Your religion can get you killed; being a Christian can be a death sentence.

Haman wanted to destroy the Jews because Mordecai didn’t bow before him according to the king’s command. He told King Ahasuerus about the people and got his permission to destroy them.

Christians in America don’t need to worry as much about someone wanting to kill them for their faith. However, those who take Yeshuwa’s gospel to countries where being a Christian is a death sentence to preach the gospel as Yeshuwa commanded, could get you killed. Missionaries don’t publicize where they work to bring the gospel because of the threat to their lives. Yet Elohiym is alive and well in those countries, turning the hearts of the people to Him.

When you learn of Christians who become missionaries in hostile areas of the world, you need to pray for their safety and for hearts to turn to the gospel.

Yeshuwa commanded His disciples to go to the world to preach the gospel to everyone. He didn’t tell them to stay away from those areas of the world who want to kill everyone who professes Iesous Christos. He said He would be with them and protect them.

Matthew 28:18 Iesous came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of every nation, baptizing them in the name of the Pater and of the Huios and of the Hagios Pneuma, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Haman’s mission was to kill the Jews because they were different and served Elohiym. Satan’s mission is to destroy everyone who calls on the name of Yeshuwa.

John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (NKJV)

John 17:14 “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

 20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

Yeshuwa promised to protect you when you do His work in taking the gospel to the nations. He also promised to live in you, not alone, but with the Pater also. You are not alone when you go to the nations with the gospel of Iesous Christos. He is with you and will protect you.

Has Yeshuwa called you to go to the nations or to your next-door neighbors? Fulfill the calling on your life and Yeshuwa will be with you and protect you as He was with the Jews when Haman wanted to destroy them simply because they were Your people.

Let’s pray: Father, help me take the gospel to the world, whether the world is my next-door neighbor or in a foreign land in a place that wants to destroy Christians. Protect me as You promised from those who would destroy me and Your work in my life. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Copyright © 22 March 2025 by Valerie Routhieaux