{"id":2709,"date":"2013-02-15T09:18:16","date_gmt":"2013-02-15T13:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oldsandals.net\/?p=2709"},"modified":"2013-02-19T09:38:11","modified_gmt":"2013-02-19T13:38:11","slug":"what-faith-is-here-expressed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.oldsandals.net\/?p=2709","title":{"rendered":"What faith is here expressed"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Esther\u2019s words were reported to Mordecai,\u00a0he sent back this answer: \u201cDo not think that because you are in the king\u2019s house you alone of all the Jews will escape.\u00a0For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father\u2019s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: \u201cGo, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Esther 4:12-16<\/em><\/p>\n

What faith is here expressed, both in Mordecai’s admonition and in Esther’s resolute response.<\/p>\n

There is one Lord, one faith, spanning the Old and the New Testaments, and down to our present day.\u00a0 Here, preserved for us in a fragment from his lost writings, is a second century statement of faith written by Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons:<\/p>\n

The sacred books acknowledge with regard to Christ, that as He is the Son of man, so is the same Being not a [mere] man; and as He is flesh, so is He also spirit, and the Word of God, and God.\u00a0 And as He was born of Mary in the last times, so did He also proceed from God as the First-Begotten of every creature; and as He hungered, so did He satisy [others]; and as He thirsted, so did He of old cause the Jews to drink, for the “Rock was Christ” Himself; thus does Jesus now give to His believing people power to drink spiritual waters, which spring up to life eternal.\u00a0 And as He was the son of David, so was He also the Lord of David.\u00a0 And as He was from Abraham, so did He also exist before Abraham.\u00a0 And as He was the servant of God, so is He the Son of God, and Lord of the universe.\u00a0 And as He was spit upon ignominiously, so also did He breathe the Holy Spirit into His disciples.\u00a0 And as he was saddened, so also did He give joy to His people.\u00a0 And as He was capable of being handled and touched,\u00a0 so again did He, in a non-apprehensible form, pass through the midst of those who sought to injure Him, and entered without impediment through closed doors.\u00a0 And as He slept, so did He also rule the sea, the winds, and the storms.\u00a0 And as He suffered, so also is He alive, and life-giving, and healing all our infirmity.\u00a0 And as He died, so is He also the Resurrection of the dead.\u00a0 He suffered shame on earth, while He is higher than all glory and praise in heaven; who, “though He was crucified through waakness, yet He liveth by divine power”; who, “descended into the lower parts of the earth,” and who “ascended up above the heavens”; for whom a manger sufficed, yet who filled all things; who was dead, yet who liveth for ever and ever.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Esther\u2019s words were reported to Mordecai,\u00a0he sent back this answer: \u201cDo not think that because you are in the king\u2019s house you alone of all the Jews will escape.\u00a0For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father\u2019s family will … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “What faith is here expressed”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oldsandals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2709"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oldsandals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oldsandals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldsandals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldsandals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2709"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldsandals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2711,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldsandals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2709\/revisions\/2711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oldsandals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldsandals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldsandals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}