#6 Esther - The Prince of Survival

The book of Esther is known as one of two books in the Bible that does not contain the name of God. It seems strange that a biblical book should never mention God; so what is the book about? Well as we have seen, it is really a story of palace intrigue in the ancient empire of Persia, an historical incident taken out of the very distant past.  But we should not look for direct teaching from this book, but indirect teaching. 

The fact is this: the material in this book is true, yet allegorical in nature. God is everywhere in this book, but not directly. In other words, the book is parabolic, an allegory about your life and mine. In each of our lives the story of Esther is being acted out. This is what makes it so fascinating, so interesting.

As our Pastor has attempted to demonstrate, this story is the revelation of the terrible possibility of our being Christians and yet wasting our lives. It is the story of an empire which was almost wrecked by pride without realizing the true cause. It is the story of the danger implicit in intending to do right, and of desiring to do right, and of believing we are doing right, but ending up realizing that we have been terribly and tragically wrong. As Pastor continues this series of sermons, he will help us recognize the various characters depicted in Esther in our own lives.