Now when the turn of each young lady came to go in to King Ahasuerus, after the end of her twelve months under the regulations for the women for the days of their beautification were completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and the cosmetics for women the young lady would go in to the king in this way: anything that she desired was given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. … Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her as his daughter, came to go in to the king, she did not request anything except what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the women, advised. And Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her. (Esther 2:12-13, 15 NASB95)
As I’ve gotten older, I usually get up in the middle of the night several times, and what used to be an unwelcome necessity has often become opportunities for God’s Spirit to ambush me with His thoughts. This morning was one of those times. As I was walking to the bathroom in my darkened house, God filled my mind with the following thought:
‘Whenever we stand before God and praise and worship Him with sincere hearts, God’s Holy Spirit gives us royal adornment to wear, the jewels of His Spirit, and He also chooses for us the prayers we will pray.’, and to verify I was indeed hearing this thought from God, I remembered the Bible book of Esther.
The book of Esther is built on the foundation of a royal audition. Beautiful young women from the entire kingdom of ancient Persia were being made ready to audition for the position of queen. It is history, proven by archeology, and not a fictional story, and it is overflowing with the riches of God!
The wisdom God is imparting through the book comes into focus if we first realize that Esther is a portrayal of us, God’s chosen children. Knowing she will have to take her turn to go before the king and knowing she will be able to choose to adorn her adornment before she does so, Esther trusts her attendant, Hegal, to choose for her how she should be made ready.
Hegal, the person who is ‘in charge’ of those who will enter before the King, portrays the Holy Spirit, and of course the King is a figure for God. Hegal knows from his vast experience what will please the King, and he wisely chooses every aspect of Esther’s first appearance. He knows what will be most pleasing to the King, and Hegal can be trusted with this job from his vast experience. When Esther makes her first appearance to the King, verse 17 records this: ‘The King loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.’
All of this occurs as a prelude to the main action of the story, because in chapter 5 Esther has to go again before the King without an appointment, and unless she again finds favor in his eyes as she spontaneously enters his presence, and unless he extends his golden scepter towards her, she will be put to death. This is what happens when she enters his thrown room without an appointment: ‘When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight and the king extended to Esther the golden scepter which was in his hand. So Esther came near and touched the top of the scepter.’
The golden scepter is a portrayal of the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of the King, and Esther is saved from death by touching it as it is extended to her. The Scepter is the only acceptable bridge between the human petitioner, and God, just as Jesus is our only way to God’s salvation. Jesus IS the Scepter of God and He alone IS the Salvation of God!
Like Esther, it is the same for us. When we prepare ourselves to go before God with our requests, we must first allow the Holy Spirit to adorn us for our entrance into His presence. The Holy Spirit adorns us with robes of righteousness and the jewelry of praise and worship. When we do this, God hears our requests because we made them in the Holy Name of His Son, Jesus.
The Bible says that no one knows the heart of God but the Spirit of God. The Spirit is the holy advisor for the chosen people of God, and He knows what, when and how we should pray. He also knows the spiritual clothing we need to be wearing when we do so. God is our Eternal Father, and just like normal earthly fathers, He wants to interact with His children, but He also requires our respect.
He should never be taken for granted; our eternal lives depend on His acceptance.
John Miltenberger
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