Faith Among The Faithless: 10-Day Reading PlanSample

The book of Hebrews describes Jesus’ work of redemption as that of the ultimate high priest. In the Jewish temple, only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place, the throne room (so to speak) where God’s presence dwells. To do so without God’s invitation—without observing the rules of entry and performing all the cleansing rites and rituals—was to face the punishment of death. Sinners cannot just stroll into the presence of a holy God, who is elsewhere described as a consuming fire (Deut. 4:24; Heb.12:29).

Jesus entered the throne room of God’s presence on behalf of God’s people, and he carried their sins on his back. He then suffered the consequences on our behalf, and made a way for the rest of us to “boldly” enter in after him (Heb. 4:16 KJV).

Esther, like Jesus, entered a throne room and welcomed death on behalf of God’s people, and her selfless act likewise preserved their lives.

In Esther’s case, her life was a movement from compromise to conviction. She had the wealth, power, and beauty that many of us believe will make us happy. Her compromise was her means of accumulating power; we, too, compromise our own convictions, desires, and preferences in exchange for something we want—power, prestige, cultural influence, or something else. To make the opposite choice, to sacrifice power for the sake of our convictions, is difficult and painful.

But this is our holy invitation in a world gone mad. Jesus said, “Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt. 10:38–39). It’s a choice between death and death—the soul-destroying death of numbness and self-interest, or the death to self that comes from giving our lives away to others. We follow Esther, and moreover, we follow Jesus on a pathway that allows for real risk in our homes, our relationships, and in our cities, entering a world of death and decay and bringing, in our own deaths, flourishing and life.