Reversing the Roles

“In the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them… it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them” (Esther 9:1).  “Ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead… Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities” (Acts 3:14,15,26). 

How wondrously were roles reversed

When God Himself had turned the tide.

The Lord has blessed those who were cursed,

And humbled those once filled with pride.

For so it was in Esther’s day

That God had thus reversed the roles

Of enemies who planned to slay

And overpower Jewish souls.

We see this principle as well

When God determined He would save

Our souls that would have gone to hell

When we had perished in the grave.

Behold God’s intervening hand

When Christ, the Holy One of God,

Would satisfy the Law’s demand

And bear for us His judgment rod.

The Lord our God, the Prince of Life,  

The King of kings, the great I Am,

Was fighting then our mortal strife

When He was dying as the Lamb.

Consider now the roles He changed,  

For we were facing endless loss:

Our souls, once cursed and thus estranged,

Are blessed and drawn now by His cross!

O Lord, we once were lost in sin,

But You have clothed us with salvation!

The price was great You paid to win

Our souls deserving condemnation.

We thank You, Lord, our Champion,

For taking thus the sinner’s place

And for the wondrous things You’ve done

Which have reversed our roles by grace!