Faithful, Even in Punishment

If there is one thing that we can count on the devil for, it is to be against the people of God. But Satan isn't just against God's chosen people spiritually, but he opposes them physically too, even to the point of death. Satan has tried to wipe out the Jews from the face of this Earth, and if he gets the chance, he will do so again. The Jews faced mass extermination in the days of the Holocaust of World War II. The people of god have also faced eras of mass persecution in former days, such as in the account of Esther. While we do not know how everyone might respond to tribulations such as the extermination of one's ethnicity, we do have some cases of how some people have responded. Because of Israel's unfaithfulness, God punished Israel with exile. In the midst of serving its sentence, Israel came under attack by a man named Haman who sought to destroy the Jews. Mordecai, the uncle of Esther, did not believe that God would let His people be totally destroyed. Even more, the thought that God would allow His people to be wiped out never crossed his mind. Don Carson writes, "Granted that God is faithful to His covenant promises,  Mordecai cannot conceive that He would permit the people of God to be destroyed."

God's promises stand. He does not forget what He has promised, nor can He. Even in His fierce anger and judgment, He did not ignore the promises that He had made to them. Promises such as this are found in Jeremiah 29:11-14, which states that God will bring His people out of captivity.

Regardless of the current state of our relationship with Christ, His promises endure. He is faithful.

Living Life