These days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.
– Esther 9:28
This celebration in Esther 9 of God’s Salvation of the Jewish people was to be remembered throughout every generation, commemorated among all of their descendants, this time when God saved His people from destruction. It is good to remember and continually commemorate in our lives and in the lives of those who come after us the good works of God. To look back at what God has done in the past continually.
Esther 9:28 illustrates the commemoration of the salvation we have in Jesus.
You think about in the New Testament, the way the Lord’s Supper is designed to be this on a regular basis and the church, to look back and remember, to never forget the body and the blood of Jesus, to be reminded continually of the salvation we have in Jesus. But not just that, I want to encourage you to pause even now if you’re able and just think back to God’s goodness in your life and specific times that God has worked in your life to bring salvation, to bring strength, to bring help, to bring deliverance.
Well, just think of all the ways that God has shown His grace at key moments in your life and not just your life. We’re a part of this story that’s being told in Esther 9 as the people of God that now includes far more than just Jewish people, but people from more and more nations, Jews and Gentiles alike, that we would look back and praise God for His faithfulness in moments like Esther 9. We are a part of this line.
Esther 9:28 encourages us to commemorate God’s faithfulness.
So read the book of Ruth. Read the book of Esther. Read all throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament and all the ways God has provided for His people and in the New Testament, specifically the church, and praise God for what he has done. Don’t forget, commemorate the ways God has moved in power. And as we look to God’s grace and movement and power in the past… We will find strength and faith for the present and for the future no matter what we find ourselves walking through.
So God, we look back together even right now in our lives and in the life of your people. We praise You for your faithfulness… For your mercy, for your power, for your wisdom, for your love, for your deliverance… For all the ways you have provided in our lives and all the ways you have provided for your people. Even when we think about our own lives… You’ve provided in so many ways we haven’t even seen… We didn’t even realize all the ways you’ve provided for us. All glory be to your Name, for your grace and mercy and help in the past.
And so we say today, we trust you with the present, with today. We trust you with the future, especially as many of us find ourselves walking through all kinds of challenges. Lord, you have shown yourself faithful over and over and over again throughout history. So we remember… We commemorate your grace from the past… We walk forward into the future with confidence for your grace in the days to come.
Prayer for the Sonar People
And God, we pray that you would bring more and more peoples into this story for the Sonar of India, this Sikh people group of 225,000 known followers of Jesus. Oh God, we pray for the spread of the gospel to the Sonar… That they might commemorate the day when the gospel came to them… The day when the church was planted among them, and the day when they came to know your salvation. God bringing about among the Sonar and all the people groups of the world. We pray for your glory and for the good of all people’s. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
