Jesus Pictures from Esther

I love it how God paints little pictures of what He's doing throughout the Old Testament. There are two I saw in Esther 1-5 that I think are worth noting.

If you remember the story, Esther is an orphan who lives with her uncle in Babylon during the captivity. She's chosen to be the king's new queen. One of the king's main advisers, Haman, wanted everyone to bow down to him. Esther's uncle Mordecai wouldn't do it and so Haman hated him.

In chapter 3 it says "he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews..." (vs 6).

The picture I see here is that of Lucifer. Jesus would not bow down and worship him. Lucifer hated Jesus so much, and the fact that God was sending a Rescuer through Jesus to wrest people from Lucifer's grasp, that He sought to kill not only Jesus, but all the people of Israel. You can see this also play out in Revelation 12.

The second picture I saw was that of Esther. She must tell the king of the plot to kill the Jews. To go into the king's presence uninvited was a death sentence. To save her people she offers her life. "...And if I perish, I perish," she says in 4:16.

To come into God's presence without being pure is also a death sentence. Jesus offered up his life to save us from the enemy of sin and death. He was pure and so when He died He could go into the Father's presence and pay our way in debt free.

Pastor Tom