I titled my last post, Reign of terror: Narcissism in Esther. I ended it on a cliffhanger. In summary:

While Xerxes and Haman sat in the royal palace in Susa, drinking a toast to themselves, riders went out to all 127 provinces of the vast Persian empire, carrying an edict that shocked the land.

How could anyone individually, or even a group collectively, begin to stem such a toxic tide? Who would dare even try?

This post is the sequel.

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Once upon a real time in an empire called Persia, lived a young woman named Esther and her cousin, mentor and adoptive father, Mordecai.

In that place, self-centeredness ruled. Evil raged. Attempts by good people to live courageously and victoriously had produced dismal, and even catastrophic, results. Esther and Mordecai could have consigned themselves to live and die as victims, overcome by forces too strong to stop. But they did not.

At the sound of your cry

A prophet named Isaiah wrote to people of a different era – and to people in all eras who face depressing and distressing times. The people Isaiah addressed were God’s people, but they had not made godly choices. Further, they had not heeded God’s repeated calls to turn around.

Through Isaiah, the Lord warned of dire consequences if his people chose to keep going their own way. In the same breath, God offered them grace. He longed to give them grace:

And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you.

For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]!

O people … you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. (Isa. 30:18-19 AMP)

When life discourages or distresses us, God offers grace. Whether we’ve lived boldly and honorably or we’ve gotten ourselves into a royal mess, God offers grace. He offers his grace to people who’ve never encountered it, and to the people who have.

Grace and reigning

In Romans 5:17, Paul cried:

Those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. (NKJV)

Thus, Romans 5 connects grace with reigning.

The book of Esther tells a true story about reigning. Its 10 chapters brim with references to royalty. We can see this emphasis in English Bible translations, but the original language communicates it even more forcefully.

In our Bibles, these, or similar, words appear throughout Esther: king, queen, reign, royal, empire, kingdom. All these words translate a family of four Hebrew words, as kin in appearance as in meaning:

• Malak, “to reign.”
• Malkuwth, “royalty, kingdom.”
• Malkah, “queen.”
• Melek, “king.”

All together, these four royal words appear 251 times in a book with 167 verses. Other terms in Esther also bespeak royalty – words like throne, princes, nobles, palace, scepter and crown.

A story about reigning

As the Esther story unfolds, we see an earthly kingdom, front and center.

In the opening chapter of Esther, we meet two rulers in the Persian empire: Xerxes the king and Vashti the queen. From the start, King Xerxes flaunts “the vast wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and glory of his majesty” (1:4). He demonstrates his recklessness and cruelty when embarrassed.

By the end of the chapter, he has rejected and dethroned Vashti – and punished all the wives in the kingdom, because his queen said no to parading before a very large and very drunken crowd.

In chapter 2, we meet two captives in exile, Esther and Mordecai – and we watch Xerxes sexually abuse teenage girls from all across his kingdom, in order to get himself a new queen.

By the end of chapter 2, Xerxes has crowned Esther queen. Yet the very process by which she attains the crown shows how tenuous and powerless her position is.

In chapter 3, Haman rises up with murder in his heart and power in his hands. When Mordecai refuses to bow to him, Haman manipulates Xerxes, and sends out a decree in the king’s name, calling for the destruction of all the Jews in the empire.

Two kinds of royalty

To Xerxes and Haman, royalty (and proximity to it) meant:

• having a name that impresses and intimidates people;
• gaining vast wealth by exploiting and robbing people;
• accumulating power to control and squash people.

That kind of royalty fills the pages of Esther. The wealth, the pageantry, the power – the expectation that “everyone must bow to me” – parades itself for all to see.

Yet, another kind of royalty fills the same pages. Quietly, without announcing itself, it reveals itself, as we heed the Spirit’s call:

Fix [your] eyes not on what is seen,
but on what is unseen,
since what is seen is temporary,
but what is unseen is eternal.
(2 Cor. 4:18)

Receiving and conducting grace

In this little book, the Lord God is unseen, unmentioned – yet profoundly at work. His grace isn’t mentioned either, yet what a difference it makes!

In chapter 4, as the ruthless decree goes out across the land, the people Haman plans to destroy do two crucial things:

• They see what is happening – and do not close their eyes or look away.
• They mourn – loudly and fervently.

At the sound of their cries, God answers them.

Also in Esther 4, three people rise up to receive – and conduct – the grace God is pouring out.

→ Mordecai conducts grace by urging the daughter he loves to appeal to Xerxes on her people’s behalf. Mordecai knows Esther’s husband-king might kill her just for showing up when he has not called. But Mordecai also knows the invisible God.

→ Hathak – a servant of Xerxes assigned to Esther – also conducts grace. Confined in the king’s palace, Esther had not heard about the royal edict before Mordecai told her. He couldn’t go to her. Hathak risks his own life to carry the messages between the two that lead Esther to act.

→ Esther seeks and receives grace by fasting before the Lord and asking her people to fast in her behalf. She conducts grace by facing down fear and going to the king.

None of the three had the ability or authority to stop the carnage Haman and Xerxes had decreed. But all three denied themselves, took courage and cooperated with the unseen God.

When they did, God gave them favor with the king, and Xerxes gave them greater authority in his kingdom. Esther and Mordecai used their new authority to do good for others. To start, they got Xerxes’ permission to send out two new decrees that effectively stopped the genocide orchestrated by Haman.

Earthly royalty: What spectacle hides

Earthly royalty can fascinate and impress us. Yet it is available only to a few, based on position in a flawed system and never, in itself, as pretty, carefree or fulfilling as it looks.

What’s more, all systems of earthly royalty and celebrity invite narcissism to flourish. They provoke selfishness and hardheartedness, envy and jealousy, competition and isolation, division and intrigue. Even kings and queens with right hearts have to watch their backs.

Ultimately, always, earthly royalty, and proximity to it, disappear in the blink of an eye. And even when people spend their lives “getting the royal treatment” that power, wealth and fame can bring – none of it provides what our hearts most deeply seek.

Elvis the King

I grew up 50 miles from Elvis Presley’s hometown. In January 1971, Elvis was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation for 1970. He was 36. In his acceptance speech, he said:

“Every dream I ever dreamed has come true a hundred times.”

Even so, something in Elvis Presley remained deeply unfulfilled. When the height of stardom couldn’t satisfy, he turned to prescription drugs. More and more, “the King of rock and roll” lived in a chemical fog, ruled by his addictions and manipulated by people around him who lived off of him.

His health ravaged, he became increasingly incoherent and irrational. I remember where I stood in the small-town store where I worked, on August 16, 1977, when my boss told me: Elvis was dead, at 42.

Sadly, Elvis the King did not reign in life.

Temporary vs. eternal

In Esther 7, Haman dies on the gallows he has erected for Mordecai. Xerxes remains king throughout Esther’s ten chapters. But history tells us his 20-year reign ended by assassination eight years later.

Xerxes and Haman ruled for a time in Persia, but neither reigned in life.

Esther and Mordecai held high positions for a time in the same empire. We don’t know what happened to them after the biblical account ends. We do know they still lived in a place where self-centeredness reigned. But God has assured us: He does not forsake his own.

We also know: Esther and Mordecai accepted the very visible assignments God gave them, and did them well. Yet neither sought after fame, wealth or power, or clung to what had been bestowed. Rather, both spent themselves in behalf of others. And they sought first the kingdom of God.

Seeking first an unseen kingdom

In Esther, Xerxes’ kingdom is ever before us. God’s kingdom is never mentioned. Yet the writer of Esther makes clear: God Most High was present – and far more powerful than those who opposed him.

Other Scriptures tell us:

God’s kingdom conquers what is seen.

The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. (Ps. 103:19).

God’s kingdom is within you. It does not operate like earthly kingdoms, and you cannot see it with your physical eyes.

The Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come. He answered them, “People can’t observe the coming of the kingdom of God. They can’t say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ You see, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21 GW)

And as we’ve already seen:

Those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

In God’s kingdom, we reign in life. We do not lord it over.

By grace through faith: We enter a relationship with the King of an unseen kingdom. Over the long haul, we so cooperate with his grace that he entrusts us with greater and greater authority. Each step of the way, we use that authority to help others and to honor him.

That kind of royalty is available in Christ Jesus to every person. It’s supremely fulfilling. It lasts. What’s more, it’s anchored in truth and love.

Purged of selfishness, ostentation and self-deceit, this royalty does not seek to conquer at all costs. Rather, it acts from selfless love. It is born from, and thrives in, a covenant-love relationship with the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Nice, in a churchy way

Even to people who call Jesus “Savior,” all of that may sound noble, but nebulous, not real like the royalty we can see and touch. It may sound interesting, but impotent next to the pomp and circumstance, the mega-wealth and mega-power of rulers who walk this earth.

Despite all the Scriptures we quote, something inside us may still view royalty much the way Haman and Xerxes did: having a lot of status, having a lot of things, having a lot of power.

In short, reigning in life by grace may sound nice, in a churchy sort of way – yet may seem too heavenly minded to do any earthly good. Two witnesses named Mordecai and Esther affirm the opposite.

Regardless who sees it or believes it

Truth is: It’s impossible to see God’s unseen kingdom, apart from grace. It’s impossible to seek God’s unseen kingdom, apart from grace.

It’s impossible to believe, much less act on, Jesus’ seemingly crazy advice:

Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back – given back with bonus and blessing. (Luke 6:38 MSG)

When the bonus and blessing don’t come as quickly or visibly as they did in Esther, we may reject what Jesus said as a sweet sentiment, but just not true. We may run after the bonus and blessing that seem superior and much closer at hand. We may pursue and keep pursuing what vanishes at our touch.

Grace is what continually flows from the Father in Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit,
empowering everything of eternal value that anyone ever becomes and does.

By grace, through faith, we know our Lord (his victory, his favor, his love, his peace, his joy). We look and wait and long for him. When discouraged and distressed, we cry out to him.

By grace, we receive his life within us – and we do not stop the flow! As we release what he pours into us, his grace continues to fill us – and to flow through us into others’ lives. Gratefully, we confess, “It’s him! It’s all him!”

By grace, we reign ultimately and eternally. By grace, we reign in life today.

Regardless who sees it or believes it, that’s real royalty.

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This post is based on selections from The Esther Blessing: Grace to Reign in Life, ©2013, 2017, chapters 4 and 10.

Image by Holiak on Freepik.

There’s more to this story

• Love story? Fairy-tale life? The abuse in Esther
• Reign of terror: Narcissism in Esther
• When evil seems invincible: Two surprising sources of hope
• A sign and a wonder: The amazing grace cycle

How others took courage and reigned in life

• Tabor: This is the day you overcome (Deborah)
• Sisters uncover cruelty hidden in plain sight (Sarah and Angelina Grimké)
• A spirit like Caleb’s – fully following God
• Mary Magdalene stuck her neck out
• The Lord is with you, mighty warrior (Gideon)