Recap of Session 2
In our second session, we saw how like Esther who could only help her people if she identified with them, Christ Jesus became a real human being like us in every way so that he could fully identify with us. Since it was only through such complete identification with us that he could take our place of sin on the cross and die for us as the good news of the Gospel so clearly announces to us.
In this our third and final session, we’re going to look at how the story of Esther shows us that like the rejoicing Jews in this story, we Christians too, as Paul reminds us in Romans 5:1-2 can rejoice always in the decisive intervention by Christ on our behalf, on the cross to win our salvation. The remaining chapters of the Book of Esther offer one of the most exciting narratives we have in the entire Bible. This is because in these chapters, we read about a series of dramatic coincidences which of course are anything but coincidences.
Esther Boldly Approaches the King
In Esther 5, we see how Esther boldly intervenes on behalf of her people by going in to see the King without the required prior permission from the King. “On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold sceptre that was in his hand. So, Esther approached and touched the tip of the sceptre.” Esther 5:1-2. Miraculously, the King receives her. And after inviting the king to a banquet she had prepared, she exposed the hatred and conspiracy of Haman and intervened for her people by asking for their protection.
Esther says to the King, “If I have found favour with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request.” Esther 7:3. As a result, Haman was hanged. In Esther 8, King Xerxes gave to Queen Esther the estate of the dead Haman and he also gave to Mordecai the signate ring he had previously given to Haman. And Mordecai replaces Haman as the new Prime Minister in the empire.
A New Decree
But although Haman had been killed, his decree was still in effect and could not be reversed. The Jews could still be killed. For this reason, with the King’s approval, Mordecai issued a new decree that negated and reversed Haman’s earlier decree to destroy the Jews. This new decree like Haman’s decree before it, was sealed with a King’s signate ring and sent to all the 127 provinces throughout the empire. In Esther 8:15-17, we read that the Jews responded to the new decree with a joyous celebration because it was for them a time of happiness, and joy, gladness and honour. God had turned the weeping of the Jews into rejoicing.
Esther 9:22 sums it all up with these words, it says, “… the Jews got relief from their enemies … their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration.” So, the end result of this divine reversal of fortunes for the Jews, was that many people of other nationalities became Jews. In other words, it resulted in the conversion of many Gentiles to faith in the living God. So, you see, Esther’s people had been condemned but because Esther identified with them and came under their condemnation, she could strongly intervene on their behalf before the throne of power as no one else could. And because she received favour there, that favour was transferred to her people.
Esther Mirrors Christ
So, how do these chapters then relate to the gospel and to you and I? Well, Philippians 2: 5-11 tells us that, Christ Jesus – the son of God, lived in the ultimate palace with ultimate beauty and glory yet he voluntarily left them behind in his incarnation to come and intervene on our behalf. He had equality with the father but he did not hold on to it. Instead, he emptied himself, identified with us and took on our condemnation.
Christ did not do this at the risk of his life as Esther did. He did it instead at the cost of his life. Christ did not like Esther say, ‘If I perish, I perish.’ Instead, in the garden of Gethsemane, he said this, he said, “My father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” That’s in Matthew 26:42. In effect, Christ was saying to the father, ‘When I perish, I’ll perish.’ Christ went to the cross and died. He made atonement for our sins. Now the divine favour he has procured before the throne of the universe is ours if we believe in what he did for us on the cross.
The Ultimate Intervention
This is the ultimate intervention on behalf of lost sinners like you and I who stood helpless before God – condemned in our sins and trespasses and facing the full wrath of the living and holy God. In the message Bible, this is what Hebrews 4:14-16 says, “Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So, let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.” This Hebrews passage is reminding us that because Christ does fully identify with our weaknesses and intervene for us on the cross, he now makes it possible for us to boldly approach God’s throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find Grace to help us in our time of need.
Summary
So, we can then summarize the main point of our third session by saying that; Like the Jews, our redemption through Christ is permanent and cannot be reversed as Paul reminds us in Romans 8:33-34. And like the rejoicing of the Jews, we Christians too as Paul reminds us in Romans 5:1-2, we can Rejoice always in the decisive intervention by Christ on our behalf on the cross to win our salvation. So, as you can see from these three sessions, Esther’s identification with her people and Esther’s intervention on behalf of her people in the face of their hopeless impotence to save themselves from the evil Haman, saved them from genocide. And as you can see, Christ is our ultimate and better Queen Esther whose identification with us through his incarnation and his intervention on our behalf on the cross, in the face of our hopeless impotence and inability to save ourselves from sin and spiritual death saves us from eternal separation from God and wins us God’s salvation and eternal life if and when we repent of our sin and we place our faith in Christ.
As Christ himself reminds us in John 3:16-21 – we only become eternal beneficiaries of his identification with us and of his intervention for us on the cross in the face of our impotence to save ourselves if we repent of our sin and we place our faith in what he did for us on the cross. We thereby receive God’s forgiveness of our sins and God’s salvation and eternal life that we begin to experience now in our everyday lives. Now, you see the overall story of the Book of Esther which is; Exile, threat of genocide, redemption, eventual return from exile mirrors the grand narrative of the Bible from Genesis to the Revelation that unfolds in the four stages of; Creation, Fall, Redemption and New Creation. Just like the Jews were redeemed from genocide through Esther’s intervention and they were eventually restored to Jerusalem after their exile, we too are redeemed through Christ Jesus our true and better Queen Esther.
And no matter how tough our Christian exile in this fallen world may be today, we look forward to one day rejoicing in the new Jerusalem where there will be no more tears, no more pain, no more sicknesses, no more pandemics and absolutely no more death. May this glorious truth of the Gospel encourage you today no matter what you may be going through at this time in your life. And if you have not yet committed your life to God through Christ, may this encourage you to do so today because if you do so today, your life will never be the same again. You’ll be a brand-new person in Christ, you’ll be a child of God, God will receive you and yours too can be life of rejoicing which the Jews experienced from their being delivered by Queen Esther in the Book of Esther. May the Lord richly bless you.
