The Final Feast

Esther 2:

18. Then the king made a great feast unto all his princes and his servants, even Esther’s feast; and he made a release to the provinces, and gave gifts, according to the state of the king.

We’re reflecting on the Book of Esther.

When it is the turn of Esther to appear before the king, she goes with nothing other than what the king has made provision for as beauty aids and the training she has received from Hege, the custodian of the women: oil of myrrh, sweet odours and other thing. Jesus Christ is all that I need for this journey of appearing in the presence of the King; no addition from self efforts through syncretic ingenuity of mixing him with other noble and lofty beauty will avail me anything. He says to come just as I am, without striving to make yourself beautiful; you cannot attain the perfection of beauty that I am by yourself; I’m all you need.

And Lord, here am I without making any extra efforts of mine.

I consulted the NIV rendition of this verse and, oh, mheen, I love it and I don’t think it’ll be too much of tautology to write it again: And the king gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his nobles and officials. He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality. As I read and copy this, it sounds like a modernist poetry. The word feast has taken on the more picturesque word, banquet; the other other phrase has been replaced by royal liberality.

The feasts or banquets given in the shadows of this book is intermittent; but that of the substance, the reality of life, is decisive and final. Christ is both the banquet and the feasting! He’s the one declaring the banquet, declaring holiday, the One that serves his servants and the One that is the inexhaustible bread and drink on which to feast. He’s the One that invites and takes all, declaring, “I’ll no wise cast out who comes to me.” Of course, if any will like to prove smart and gains to His presence through any other ways, He will detect this infringement of the principle of gaining entrance to life and He will ask, “Friend, how did you get here without the wedding garment?” and will command such to be cast into outer darkness!

I’m come into the place of Esther. For this reason was I born, for this purpose was I given birth again (born again), nay, born from above – to give God his satisfaction, to walk worthy of Him to all pleasing. For the Father wants such. Doesn’t the scripture says that His Father is greater than all and that no one can pluck (make slip away) from His hand as long as I allow Him to hold to me instead of me trying to hold on to Him?! But I must learn the course of the Windy Holy Spirit – you only sense His movements and don’t know where’s going to or coming from; Esther does and she stands tall in the history of life. But if He has prepared me to come this far, I’m so confident the next stage is my being crowned by Him. His eternal presence is my crown.

Esther is crowned as queen by the king. Christ the King crowns His Church, His Bride. For Esther, the king declares a feast that is epochal. Christ the Lord declares a banquet which is more epochal and is tagged the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. “….. for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints” (Revelations 19:7 -8). Like Esther in our shadow, this WIFE of Revelations has attained the purification, the perfection only the eager King Christ has made provision for – fine linen, clean and white; Christ is the perfection Who “worketh in you both to will and to want to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

There’s this part of the passage of the scripture above that used to give me sleepless nights. I read: And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and the voice of mighty thunderings, saying Alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth (Revelations 19:6). My worry? I’m quite aware of my obscurity in life, my irrelevance! I’m critically aware that in a crowd, I’ll easily get lost because I’m far from being well known or important. Now, in this huge celestial gathering of billions of billions with thundering-multitude-water voices…. can I matter here? And, friend, if I’ve ever discovered anything in my existence in the LIFE that is called Christ, it is that to Him, this King, I’m unique! In what way? I don’t know, but certainly not in the life of nothingness that has been my lot all life! I’ve loved to be His satisfaction.

Then one day, a clear, unambiguous thought alighted gently on my soul and, ever since, ever after, I’ve been soaring, on an eagle wings in the streams of wind current.

I was in that former mode of thought because I did pile high a lot of limitations on Christ. I used to have the picture of Christ as standing on a raised platform high above the billions of billions of the overcomers in form of and as the WIFE and, only the intimate friends like Peter, John, James…. – so I used to think – will be the nearest to Him over there while the insignificant me would possibly be at the periphery of the back of the billions of billions. How would I see Him, when the great achievers – apostles, evangelists, pastors, teachers – the category of which I didn’t fit into – surrounded Him for whom I’d spent all of my life worshipping? Disheartening!

However that day, it occurred to me that Christ is not limited: the King can be before the billions of billions simultaneously at the same time ministering to each at his or her different level! If He raised me from the dunghill and from the ashes to know and worship Him, putting me among His  princes, then that settled it (Psalm 113:7). I’m among His princes; my present inconsequential existence doesn’t preclude me from the excellence of His presence. Life is all about being in His eternal presence! This is the crown of life

Thank You Lord for this.