The True Story of Esther
The book of Esther is the ‘How to’ manual on Covert Kingdom Operations and a Biblical handbook on Workplace Ministry . It describes the ways in which God infiltrates the enemy’s camp in order to disrupt demonic decisions.
I know that many believe the book to be about the relationship between the church and Christ, however a careful and objective examination will reveal that it has much more to do with the relationship between the church and the world.
Let’s consider the characters and what they represent:
- Esther = The Church
- The King = The kingdoms of this world
- Haman = The devil
- Mordecai = Christ
- Unfortunately many believers have missed the true message of Esther by making the king a type of Christ. They assume that Vashti represents Israel who was put away and replaced by the church as Christ’s bride. This replacement style theology is flawed on many levels. However as it is not my purpose to discuss the idea of a replacement theology, I will instead focus on why the book of Esther does not endorse it.
The King in this story cannot represent Christ for several reasons:
- He is a pagan King
- He is deceived by Haman
- He does not know Esther’s true identity
- Esther is scared of him
None of these descriptions fit Christ. Instead they fit the character of a pagan King. In this respect, the King represents the Kingdoms of this world. He represents any organization, institution, Industry, city or nation that is governed by the godless.
The difficulty with this point of view, for some, surrounds the marriage and intimacy between Esther and the King. How can a Christian be in a marriage-style relationship with the world when we are commanded not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers?
This stumbling block comes from a simplistic and naïve view of marriage in the ancient world. The fact is that most women had little choice in the matter of marriage and that it was not always the love affair that we think of today. Daughters were typically given in marriage and often as a reward for some favor. You’ll remember that David was given King Saul’s daughter in marriage as a reward for killing Goliath.
The fact is that Esther applied for a job and she got it! You see, marriage to a king in the pagan context was really a full time job, which involved personal and professional duties. On Esther’s part it was a career move and a career is to some extent a covenant or contract to perform duties to the best of your ability. It so happens that the job in question involved a wedding.
Esther therefore represents any believer who is employed by an organization, industry or institution that is governed by a godless leader. That leader may be surrounded by ungodly counsel and may not even know that a believer is in the company. Esther represents the covert kingdom agent. The secret agent who is sleeping in the system awaiting instructions from Christ (Mordecai).
The entire book is about covert kingdom operations. The very fact that the word ‘God’ does not appear in the book should give us a clue as to its true purpose. God does not appear in any explicit sense and yet he is visible in every implicit sense. God does not need to be announced in order to arrive. He does not need to be named in order to be present. He doesn’t need an invitation in order to intervene. God is visible on every page of the book without being named once.
This is a clue to the covert nature of the Kingdom. It is simply not necessary for you to broadcast your Christianity in every sphere of influence. Sometimes you need to keep it to yourself as a personal and private matter. Or as I say it; you should do your job before you do Jesus! Many have tried to do Jesus in the workplace before doing their job. The result is that both you and ‘your’ Jesus get’s fired! Do your job first; then do Jesus and it will work every time!
Doing your job first will make you credible, valuable and irreplaceable within your chosen sphere of influence. You can then use that credibility to intercept the plan of the enemy (Haman) and to instruct the king. You may even successfully change the culture of the entire industry by using your position for God’s glory.
There will inevitably come a day that Christ asks you to put it all on the line for your faith and for His purpose. To stand out, speak up and to identify yourself! In that day, you will know that you have come to the Kingdom for such a time as this….
To your Kingdom success
Bishop Wayne Malcolm
