Friday, March 06, 2009

Esther – 3 Marked with the King’s Seal

Esther – 3 Marked with the King’s Seal

Haman was apparently very important to Xerxes. He was elevated to the highest honor of any of the kings nobles (whether worthy or not)….and he was trusted with the king’s signet ring. With the ring, Haman could put the king’s very name to any decree, in the form of a seal, and it would be as if the king himself had written it.
Seals were introduced around 5000 b.c. by royalty as a means of proving ownership and issuing decrees and edicts. Seals were very identifiable and impossible to mess with or reproduce. Seal’s carried weight because of who was behind it. It proved authenticity and ownership.
I once had my watch stolen. I luckily had all the original paperwork and serial numbers to the watch…so the police added that to the police report. Two years later, out of the blue, I get a call from the Manassas Virginia police department….they have come across my watch in a database…and wanted to know where I wanted the watch mailed to. The serial number I had, proved my ownership.
Though in the Esther story, the seal Haman placed, was done with cruel and malicious intentions….Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians uses this metaphor of the seal to give us the image of being joint heirs, marked with the King’s (God’s) own seal….the Holy Spirit.
That is God’s mark, His indelible image. God’s seal on us is His Holy Sprit. The Holy Spirit can’t be copied, His mark is genuine, He proves our ownership and under who’s headship we live. By his Spirit, we are heirs in His Kingdom.

Eph 1:13-14 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession.

No comments: