The letter to the Ephesians is very rich, several months ago we did a study on the spiritual blessings contained in those short chapters. I think it is one of the most informative letters of Paul. What is different at the end of this letter is he asks for prayer.
Those who were there on the mountain on the day when Jesus went back to live with His Heavenly Father had no option but to go on and do what Jesus had commanded. So often in reading the gospels, we get the idea that His listeners were transfixed.
If we are believers, then we are a part of the body of Christ on the earth. We must consequently do our part. Christianity is a living active thing and not a faith that demands obedience in church attendance, but obedience in doing what Jesus did. He is our example.
After Jesus sent out the twelve and they had returned, He sent out a much larger group to do the same thing. The first verse of this chapter tells us that those seventy-two went before Jesus to the places He was planning to go! Who were these seventy-two?
Many people had followed Jesus around, drawn by His teaching, and hoping to be healed or to see other people healed. Then He chose The Twelve to follow Him in a much closer sense of the word. Not just to go around with Him, but to do what He did.
Still today, Jewish families all over the world celebrate this feast of Purim. They remember the story of Esther. They praise Jehovah for her obedience and boldness, rejoicing that one more time the Jewish nation had been saved from being terminated. But the story does not finish there.
This chapter of Esther is full of blood, fighting and killings worthy of any modern film. Mordecai rose quickly into his responsibilities and his name was known throughout the realm of Xerxes. What we do not see in the verses above is that the Jewish people took no plunder!
Fear of the Jews! Neighbours had seen them praying and weeping, they had heard the wailing of the prayers and the families who thought they were all about to die. What shocked these non-Jews is that the prayers were answered! That meant that maybe, just maybe, their God was real!!
Enough is enough! How is it that the devil who causes the evil in our world, manages to convince people to think that they will get away with the wrong they are doing? Sometimes they do, often for a long time, but eventually the truth comes out and good wins.
The king came back into the room at just the right moment (not for Haman). He saw Haman pleading with Esther for his life. As often happens in moments of high emotions, the king misunderstood the situation. He reacted violently, thinking Esther was being raped, and sealed the fate of Haman.
EN 
FR