At The Lord's Table: Esther Exhortation

Esther tells the King of Haman's plot

Exhortation

At the Lord's Table - Lessons from Esther

The book of Esther is about deliverance. It tells how, because a few leaders of God’s people were strong and faithful, God was able to deliver His people from those who wished to destroy them.
Mordecai and Esther are representative of ourselves as the ecclesia of God. Mordecai was perplexed because Haman, one of the king of Persia’s chief ministers, had developed a paranoid personal hatred for him and, as a consequence, made a complaint to the king about the people of the Jews.

Like Persia in ancient times, the Caribbean today is a religious place with many, many churches and temples everywhere. Despite this, the Caribbean, and the world, are full of violence and hatred. The world goes after Christians in very subtle ways. Like Mordecai and Esther, we have to be very strong.

Imagine as the Jews watched that gallows going up until it towered seventy-five feet above the city streets. No wonder "there was mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes" (4:3). People call upon the Lord when they are in deep trouble. Mordecai led his people in prayer for deliverance.

One reason for our coming here to the Lord’s table is to pray for deliverance. Young people like Esther, older people like Mordecai, all of us Christian-minded people must go to God for help and deliverance from our enemies. God answered Mordecai’s and Esther’s prayers because they were strong and determined not to give up.

As beautiful as the world is, that gallows casts its grim shadow over us. People get AIDS through having worldly fun, but in fact what they receive is a rope for that gallows -- a death certificate. At this table, let us pray that God will help us and our children to be strong, to overcome the obstacles in our world so that we can find deliverance.

For the Jews, deliverance brought "happiness and joy, gladness and honour" (8:16). Their celebrations attracted many who did not know the truth. "Many people of other nationalities became Jews" (8:17). So with us, we have a responsibility to see and to lead others to the truth by the very joy we show at our deliverance through Christ.

We are here not just to share bread and wine; we are here to pray for deliverance, to show love to each other, to fight back the enemy of sin when it attacks us. Let us support one another in continuing to pray earnestly so that the Lord will deliver us as he did Esther and her people, so that we can bring praise and honour and glory to His name and draw others to Him.

Travis Matthews, Round Hill, Jamaica
Originally printed in the Carribean Pioneer, February 2001