Lexie
June 30th, 2007, 05:31 PM
Evil has a name and it begins with ‘H’
Many people don’t want to acknowledge that evil exists; they believe that people do bad things because circumstances or environment or conditioning leaves them no choice. Others know that evil exists but see it as a vague, unnamed malevolent force that preys on innocent people. Yet history shows that evil is very real and personal and that, in fact, some individuals have become the very personification of evil. This month we remember one such person. His name is Haman.
The festival of Purim, celebrated this year on 14th March, commemorates God’s victory over Haman’s plan to destroy the Jewish people. Today, the feast of Purim is a light-hearted holiday celebrated with Purim spiels (the story of the book of Esther). Jewish people also play groggers* and games, eat delicious pastries known as hamentaschen (Haman’s ears) and play practical jokes as on ‘April Fool’s Day.’ But the actual events of Purim were anything but light-hearted for the Jews living at that time:
‘Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews - young and old, women and little children – on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.’ (Esther 3:13)
This atrocity was the brainchild of one man: Haman. There have always been villains like Herod, Haman and Hitler, and groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, who call for the obliteration of the Jewish people. They have been diabolically inspired by Satan (Hebrew for the adversary) who is God’s sworn enemy. He longs to wipe out the Jews because in so doing he imagines himself defeating God’s plan and making God out to be an impotent liar. After all, God promised to protect and preserve the Jewish people - He has staked His reputation on the perpetuity of the nation. No wonder the destruction of the Jewish people has been the objective of ‘evildoers’ throughout history. While those demonically inspired individuals probably do not know or care about spiritual realities, their own evil inclinations have provided Satan with opportunities to use them.
Why do we have such a hard time associating evil with a person? Why try to justify the actions of evil people? I remember a TV ad that said: ‘Don’t leave your keys in your car or you might help make a good boy go bad.’ Sometimes we argue that people who sin are still inherently good – just good people gone bad. We have fashioned blame shifting into an art form to avoid the harsh reality that people are responsible for their evil actions. Why? There are things about evil that by nature, we do not want to know.
Evil has a source and it begins with ‘H’
A major source of evil in this world is the human heart: ‘The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.’ (Genesis 6:5)
Evil is not some unnamed malevolent force that only exists outside of humanity. The Bible speaks a great deal about evil (462 times) and specifically identifies people as evildoers 44 different times. Not only is evil real, people are evil, and part of our evil nature is that we don’t want to admit it.
Our modern and post-modern mindset resists the idea that evil has become inherent in human nature because of the fall of our race. How ironic then, that when confronted by our wrongs, we shrug it off by saying, ‘I am only human.’ Precisely. Deep down, everyone knows that not one of us is exempt from evil thoughts, words or deeds. Most would simply prefer to call it something else.
Perhaps we avoid the reality that our hearts are evil because we reserve that word for the likes of Haman, who, after all, must be in a category shared only by other ruthless murderers like Herod or Hitler. But Haman’s heinous crime did not begin as a diabolical plan for genocide. It stemmed from hubris, a wretched, seething resentment of inappropriate pride.
‘When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honour, he was enraged’ (Esther 3:5). That seething wrath towards Mordecai the Jew gave birth to Haman’s monstrous plan to wipe out all Jews in the Persian Empire.
Could something as common as hubris lead to something as evil as genocide? Yes! Pride is a powerful deceiver that causes untold destruction. It keeps us from seeing and hating our own sin. The feeding and festering of arrogance under any cover, be it nationalism, religious fervour or you-name-it can take human beings down a maniacal path toward genocide. But it will not always be so.
Evil has a destiny and it begins with ‘H’
Haman had a hangman’s gallows erected for the special execution of the Jew he hated most: Mordecai. But Haman’s plans backfired in one sudden moment of judgement. Standing before the King, Queen Esther confronted Haman with his evil plan. The truth came out in a most unexpected way. Haman’s punishment was swift: he was hanged on the very gallows he had prepared for Mordecai (Esther 7:9-10).
God will judge evil, if not in this life, as in the case of Haman, then most certainly in the next. Evildoers have a destiny and that destiny is called Hell. One day we will all stand before the King and then there will be no avoiding the reality that we have sinned in thought, word and deed.
Thankfully God did not condemn us to be left to our own evil inclinations. God sent His only beloved Son, a Jew named Y’shua, into this world to change our destiny for good. Satan in his pride, tried to get Jesus to bow down to him. Failing that, he foolishly constructed a ‘gallows’ from which Jesus willingly allowed Himself to be hung. The enemy must have thought Jesus’ death would defeat the plan of God. Instead it became the point of victory by which the adversary would be destroyed.
Purim teaches us that evil has a name, a source and a destiny. It demonstrates how God uses the unexpected to separate good from evil, to preserve His people and put forward His plans.
Though we downplay our sin, evil resides in each of us. Its source is pride, which has corrupted every human heart and given birth to unholy thoughts, words and choices. But God used the most unexpected means to separate us from our sin. He nailed it to Calvary so that He could give us a new name, a new heart and a new destiny.
The cross became the means by which our own sin would be executed so that we might be saved. That is the good news that we must believe and proclaim to our world. Evil is real. Hell is real. And because of these realities, we have been given the only real solution, the finished work of our Messiah Jesus. ‘Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!’ (2 Corinthians 9:15)
http://jewsforjesus.org/
V662 — “Mission to the Jews” with David Brickner of Jews for Jesus
http://www.levitt.tv/
Many people don’t want to acknowledge that evil exists; they believe that people do bad things because circumstances or environment or conditioning leaves them no choice. Others know that evil exists but see it as a vague, unnamed malevolent force that preys on innocent people. Yet history shows that evil is very real and personal and that, in fact, some individuals have become the very personification of evil. This month we remember one such person. His name is Haman.
The festival of Purim, celebrated this year on 14th March, commemorates God’s victory over Haman’s plan to destroy the Jewish people. Today, the feast of Purim is a light-hearted holiday celebrated with Purim spiels (the story of the book of Esther). Jewish people also play groggers* and games, eat delicious pastries known as hamentaschen (Haman’s ears) and play practical jokes as on ‘April Fool’s Day.’ But the actual events of Purim were anything but light-hearted for the Jews living at that time:
‘Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews - young and old, women and little children – on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.’ (Esther 3:13)
This atrocity was the brainchild of one man: Haman. There have always been villains like Herod, Haman and Hitler, and groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, who call for the obliteration of the Jewish people. They have been diabolically inspired by Satan (Hebrew for the adversary) who is God’s sworn enemy. He longs to wipe out the Jews because in so doing he imagines himself defeating God’s plan and making God out to be an impotent liar. After all, God promised to protect and preserve the Jewish people - He has staked His reputation on the perpetuity of the nation. No wonder the destruction of the Jewish people has been the objective of ‘evildoers’ throughout history. While those demonically inspired individuals probably do not know or care about spiritual realities, their own evil inclinations have provided Satan with opportunities to use them.
Why do we have such a hard time associating evil with a person? Why try to justify the actions of evil people? I remember a TV ad that said: ‘Don’t leave your keys in your car or you might help make a good boy go bad.’ Sometimes we argue that people who sin are still inherently good – just good people gone bad. We have fashioned blame shifting into an art form to avoid the harsh reality that people are responsible for their evil actions. Why? There are things about evil that by nature, we do not want to know.
Evil has a source and it begins with ‘H’
A major source of evil in this world is the human heart: ‘The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.’ (Genesis 6:5)
Evil is not some unnamed malevolent force that only exists outside of humanity. The Bible speaks a great deal about evil (462 times) and specifically identifies people as evildoers 44 different times. Not only is evil real, people are evil, and part of our evil nature is that we don’t want to admit it.
Our modern and post-modern mindset resists the idea that evil has become inherent in human nature because of the fall of our race. How ironic then, that when confronted by our wrongs, we shrug it off by saying, ‘I am only human.’ Precisely. Deep down, everyone knows that not one of us is exempt from evil thoughts, words or deeds. Most would simply prefer to call it something else.
Perhaps we avoid the reality that our hearts are evil because we reserve that word for the likes of Haman, who, after all, must be in a category shared only by other ruthless murderers like Herod or Hitler. But Haman’s heinous crime did not begin as a diabolical plan for genocide. It stemmed from hubris, a wretched, seething resentment of inappropriate pride.
‘When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honour, he was enraged’ (Esther 3:5). That seething wrath towards Mordecai the Jew gave birth to Haman’s monstrous plan to wipe out all Jews in the Persian Empire.
Could something as common as hubris lead to something as evil as genocide? Yes! Pride is a powerful deceiver that causes untold destruction. It keeps us from seeing and hating our own sin. The feeding and festering of arrogance under any cover, be it nationalism, religious fervour or you-name-it can take human beings down a maniacal path toward genocide. But it will not always be so.
Evil has a destiny and it begins with ‘H’
Haman had a hangman’s gallows erected for the special execution of the Jew he hated most: Mordecai. But Haman’s plans backfired in one sudden moment of judgement. Standing before the King, Queen Esther confronted Haman with his evil plan. The truth came out in a most unexpected way. Haman’s punishment was swift: he was hanged on the very gallows he had prepared for Mordecai (Esther 7:9-10).
God will judge evil, if not in this life, as in the case of Haman, then most certainly in the next. Evildoers have a destiny and that destiny is called Hell. One day we will all stand before the King and then there will be no avoiding the reality that we have sinned in thought, word and deed.
Thankfully God did not condemn us to be left to our own evil inclinations. God sent His only beloved Son, a Jew named Y’shua, into this world to change our destiny for good. Satan in his pride, tried to get Jesus to bow down to him. Failing that, he foolishly constructed a ‘gallows’ from which Jesus willingly allowed Himself to be hung. The enemy must have thought Jesus’ death would defeat the plan of God. Instead it became the point of victory by which the adversary would be destroyed.
Purim teaches us that evil has a name, a source and a destiny. It demonstrates how God uses the unexpected to separate good from evil, to preserve His people and put forward His plans.
Though we downplay our sin, evil resides in each of us. Its source is pride, which has corrupted every human heart and given birth to unholy thoughts, words and choices. But God used the most unexpected means to separate us from our sin. He nailed it to Calvary so that He could give us a new name, a new heart and a new destiny.
The cross became the means by which our own sin would be executed so that we might be saved. That is the good news that we must believe and proclaim to our world. Evil is real. Hell is real. And because of these realities, we have been given the only real solution, the finished work of our Messiah Jesus. ‘Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!’ (2 Corinthians 9:15)
http://jewsforjesus.org/
V662 — “Mission to the Jews” with David Brickner of Jews for Jesus
http://www.levitt.tv/