A NIGHT WITH THE KING

A NIGHT WITH THE KING

Have you seen the remarkable film, now showing in theaters across our country?

It is the story from the biblical book of Esther and how the Jewish Feast of PURIM began. Ever since the events of that historical document, in the 5th century B.C., Jewish people, worldwide have celebrated it in the Hebrew month of Adar, which corresponded to March 2006 on the western calendar.

A beautiful young Jewish woman, originally named Hadassah, became queen in the house of King Ahasuerus, a.k.a Xerxes, king of Persia. His realm extended from Ethiopia to India. Renamed Esther, as queen, she became the favorite of the king.

A PLOT was established by a court prince named, Haman, to have annihilated all the Jews of the vast kingdom. Through a series of interesting events, God used Esther to persuade the king not to destroy her people. Her faith in God and intense prayer was her "weapon." Prior to the crisis, she had not told the king that she was Jewish. Her life could have been in peril also.

THE EVENTS were not coincidental. The living God intervened in history and preserved the people He chose in his interview with Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3.

ISRAEL'S VERY EXISTENCE TODAY depended upon that seemingly insignificant drama in history, and the Jewish people recognize that fact.

THE IMPORTANCE TO JEW AND GENTILE TODAY is immense. There would be no nation of Israel as we know it today. Also, it assures us that God will continue to safeguard His people, whom He has never rejected. We are assured by the Bible that Israel will continue from now on, as possessors of a part of the Holy Land and that God's bountiful blessings await all those who accept Jesus of Nazareth as God's Messiah.