Lance Brown

483-473 B.C.  God’s people in exile in Susa, capital of Persia. King Xerxes, an unstable king; Vashti , Xerxes’ beautiful and modest wife; Haman, Xerxes’ assistant; Esther, ravishing Jewish orphan girl;  Mordecai, a faithful Jewish leader and Esther’s benefactor, raised up by God to rescue His people.

As we continue our march through the Old Testament, and God’s larger story, don’t you wonder how the thread of God’s redemptive story doesn’t just snap and break? Good grief! Ten of the twelve tribes of Israel were lost to history. Only two remained, and then they were conquered and most of the them were…

We pick up God’s larger story in Babylon, far away from the promised land. Daniel and three of his Jewish friends have been recruited as part of the king’s counselors because of their wisdom. King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that is tremendously troubling to him. He knows the dream is significant, but he has no…

Last week we saw how Babylon invaded the land of Judah. In much of the territory, the cities were conquered, and the people taken off to exile in Babylon. The only territory yet not taken was Jerusalem. Jeremiah lays out the charges against the people and warns them of what’s coming.

God’s people needed a motto like that. “No king but King God.” The human kings got the nation into a heap of trouble. The nation split into two smaller, weaker nations and during the time of the divided kingdom there were 38 kings in all. Only five were good kings. The other 33 kings did…