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Esther For Advent

Sermon Audio

Advent is about God’s rescue of us as we are enveloped by the empire where God is concealed and our rebellion is revealed.

In the first act of the story of Esther we found Esther and Mordecai, standing in for God’s people completely compromised by empire. They had turned their back on God and his kingdom and tried to succeed in empire’s way. They were initially enormously successful. Esther climbed to the top by opening her life and her legs completely to empire.

In the second act of the story we begin to see the futility of empire in the age of decay. Esther’s beauty will fade. The king’s shallow interest in Esther will decline. New competitors, Haman in this case arose and exposed the fact of empire, that within it and its way (my well-being at the expense of others) there is no enduring safety or shalom.

In this moment Esther and Mordecai, ancestors of Saul’s family are forced to re-enact the moment of Saul’s capitulation to empire in 1 Samuel 15. In this crisis Esther now decides to redeem Saul and the people of God compromised by empire at the risk of her own welfare and her own life. This sets into motion the conflict between the people of God and empire.

Advent is Also About the Second Coming Continue reading →