Christ, Our Ultimate Queen Estherনমুনা

Like Esther, who could only help her people by identifying with them, Jesus became human like us so He could fully identify with us, taking our place on the cross to pay for our sins. And just like the Jews rejoiced when God came through for them, rescuing them from obliteration, we can rejoice because Jesus has intervened for us and set us free to live in His resurrection power.

The remaining chapters of Esther are riveting, filled with dramatic (apparent) coincidences. In Esther 5, the Jewish queen boldly intervenes for her people by approaching the king without prior permission. Miraculously, he receives her and attends a banquet she’s prepared. There she exposes Haman’s schemes and begs for the king’s mercy for her people. Haman is hanged. Xerxes gives Haman’s estate to Esther and Haman’s position and authority to Mordecai. It’s poetic justice at its most cosmically beautiful.

Law forbids Xerxes from reversing Haman’s decree to wipe out the Jews, so they could still be killed. But he endorses a second decree issued by Mordecai, whereby the Jews can fight back with any resources at their disposal. There’s a divine reversal of fortunes, the Jews are victorious, and they respond with unadulterated celebration. Many gentiles even become Jews as a result of all these events – the way God-haters turn to Jesus because of His astonishing intervention in our lives.

Again, all this echoes the gospel. Jesus lived in the ultimate palace yet voluntarily left it behind to intervene on our behalf on Earth (Philippians 2:5–11). What’s more, Jesus didn’t do this at the risk of His life, as Esther did. He did it at the cost of His life. Esther said, ‘If I die, I die.’ Jesus effectively said, ‘When I die, I’ll die’ (Matthew 26:42). Esther risked her life to procure favour for her people. Jesus gave His life to procure favour for us, so we can confidently, freely approach our King at any time.

The complete story of the book of Esther – exile, threat of genocide, redemption, eventual return from exile – mirrors the grand narrative of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, which 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 Jesus Christ, our true and better Esther. 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 sickness, no more death. May this glorious gospel truth give you faith and courage, no matter what you may be going through.

This plan was adapted from the series, Christ Our Ultimate Queen Esther, on RightNow Media. To find out more, visit: https://www.rightnowmedia.org/af/get-access