Preparation

Here we find ourselves in chatper 5 of Esther.  Esther has prepared herself to be in the presence of the king.  She put on her “royal robes”.  On the third day, she went before the king, and he was willing to give her whatever she wanted.  She was there to intercede on behalf of her people.  They were about to be slaughtered by that nasty man, Haman.  She knew that going before the king was a risk to her own life.

Esther 5:4 says, “And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to a feast that I have prepared for the king.”

Esther faced a few obstacles.  First, Esther knew that approaching the king was against the law, the penalty was death.  Esther was preparing herself to ask the king to reverse a law that she knew once went into effect that it couldn’t be reversed.  Her biggest obstacle, Haman.  He was the second most powerful person, next to the king, in the entire kingdom. 

What would you ask the King if you were in his presence?  What do you pray to God for?  Do you ask him for wealth or material things?  Or, do you ask Him for spiritual blessings?  What about help for the obstacles that we are facing?  What is in your heart when you approach the King of Kings?

When reading this I kept thinking about the feast that is being prepared for us in Heaven.  Yes, a feast is being prepared for me.  And it’s also being prepared for you.  It’s right there in Revelation 19:6-9:

“Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
⁷ Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
⁸ it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

⁹ And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

Now the question is, what are we doing to prepare for this feast?  Are you preparing your heart for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb?  Jesus is there and he’s preparing it for you and me.  Esther was preparing herself for this feast for the King.  Her plan was to save her people from slaughter.  That is the plan that Jesus has for us.  Jesus’ plan is to save us from slaughter.  And, just like Esther was there to intercede on behalf of her people, Jesus is there to intercede for us before the Father.  We must prepare our heart, just as Jesus is preparing, for the feast that is to come. 

When we read further, we find that Haman has become even more infuriated with Mordecai.  Once Haman reaches the gate, he sees Mordecai sitting there.  He doesn’t even acknowledge Haman, which makes Haman even more unbearable.  So, of course, this sets Haman’s mind to spinning and he has to come up with a way to get back at Mordecai.  He devises a plan to have Mordecai hanged.  He has gallows constructed.  This man is just devious.  His ego is so great that others have no importance to him but himself.  But, isn’t that the way Satan is with us.  He’s devious.  He’s plotting our destruction as we speak.  Haman is at the top of his power.  Just like Satan, he will be defeated. 

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank you for all that you are allowing me to learn during this bible study.  Help me apply these truths to my life.  Forgive me when I’ve not been prepared to come to you.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.