Purification: Esther’s Inner Beauty (Part 2)
Before Esther became Queen, she probably never expected God would use her to help save His people. Yet, this was her destiny that she was in preparation for long before it was fulfilled. Her preparation kept her ready to do the will of God and altered the course of history. So how did Esther’s preparation process look like and how can we relate it to our Christian walks in fulfilling the callings God has for us? In this post, we will discuss the first crucial steps in preparation that we as believers should go through.
A queen in training, Esther was one of the beautiful virgins brought to the palace for the beauty pageant. Like all the rest, she would have to go through lengthy preparations before her one night with the King. Let’s take a closer look at the process that would prepare Esther for her destiny as Queen.
Healing and Purification
Purification was the first step in the preparation process Esther went through which included 6 months of myrrh and oil. During that time period, many of the women probably dealt with cracked, dry skin, wrinkling, sunburn, sores, and other various skin conditions that would benefit from all the treatments they would receive. Think of all the oils, olive, myrrh, cassis, honey to name a few, that they would soak and be massaged in to help heal and moisturize the skin not to mention leave a pleasant scent behind. So as you can very well tell, the preparation process before meeting the king was essential. This is also true in our lives today that we should prepare ourselves for our King and the one who matters the most, Jesus.
Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready.
Revelation 19:7-9
Esther had a year of spa treatments to prepare but we have our entire lifetimes. In Esther’s case, the transformation that occurred was apparent in the natural, however as believers, our transformation occurs spiritually from the inside out.
Jesus brings this transformation process when we seek him and usually involves purification. Esther had to go through several months of this for her one night with the king to seal a relationship with Him as Queen. For us, it’s the other way around, in which Christ seals us to Himself first and out from this we become purified when we choose to abide in Him. It’s a process that we have to be mutually involved with alongside the Holy Spirit who guides and molds us as we go through the process.
In this post, we will discuss how purification involves separating, submitting, and ultimately abiding in God, which is involved in all of them. Let’s take a closer look at these three components.
Separating
Separating is when we choose to detach our identities from the world and carnal nature, which support feeding and elevating the flesh so that ultimately we become a god to ourselves, living only to please the desires of the flesh. This is contrary to what God wants for us and leads us to ignoring conviction from the Holy Spirit to turn away and separate ourselves for Him. God brings conviction of sin through love and not condemnation. Without acknowledging the love of God, sin would be impossible to separate from. Acknowledging and accepting the love of God enables us to turn to Him. As we turn to Him, He enables us to turn away from sin. Sin separates us from God and blinds us from the truth of who He is and who He has called us to be. He is a Holy God and cannot abide with sin. Therefore we need to be repentant and turn away from sin by turning towards Him and seeking His face.
It’s common to think that to turn to God means to first turn away from our sin. Though this is true it is not the first step that we should be taking. Turning to God fundamentally means believing in Him and His Truth. When a sinner first gets saved it is not because they were able to completely come out of sin but because they choose to believe that Jesus died and rose again to redeem him/her to the Father. When they turn to God, they are rejecting the lies of the world and their sinful nature and are embracing their new identity in Christ.
For if anyone is in Christ Jesus he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17
If you feel separated from God, there is a high probability that there are certain sins that you may be struggling with that are blinding you to God’s reality that He loves you and took upon Himself your iniquity.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5
Here this verse does not just infer healing from sickness in the body, but also sickness in the soul as well. This includes familiar sins, addictions, weaknesses, etc. We can not separate ourselves from these chains ourselves. It’s only through the redemptive blood of Jesus that we can be set free and perceive God’s reality, that nothing can ever separate us from His love.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38
Separation is an identity mindset that involves turning to God and seeking His face and believing who He says we are.
Sin
To do this we need to believe the truth about all God says that we are. Your reality is made up of your perceptions and if not shaped by the Word it will turn to the world and human wisdom for answers. Yet the Bible says that
There is a way that seems right to a man but really leads to death and destruction.
Proverbs 14:12
There is only one way that leads to purity and that is through the blood of Jesus. No one in it of themselves is good. No matter how many good deeds done, or kind words spoken, human nature is sinful.
For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23
The blood of Jesus was shed for the remission of sins and without it, we could never be forgiven and come before a holy God. Think back to the Old Testament when they sacrificed animals and smeared the sides of the altar with the blood among several of the other rituals that presented offerings and sacrifices for sin to the Lord. By this, people were heavily aware of the penalty for their sins and that the justice of God required payment. There were various rituals that involved some kind of grain, flour, or animal but ultimately, whatever was presented to the Lord had to be pure, untarnished, and without blemishes. Why did it matter so much that something spotless, and in the case of animals, innocent have to be sacrificed and offered to the Lord? One of the reasons is that the animal would take the place of a guilty part from an individual to an entire community, receiving the penalty of death through the sacrifice. The blood of the animal, it’s life source, I believe was smeared on the sides of the altar as a reminder that its life was given as a result of sin. Because it was unblemished, innocent, and made holy from being placed on the altar, it symbolically exchanged this to the people/person for their guilt and deserved punishment. This was a sign of how the Israelites were to be made right with God.
When Jesus came he ultimately was the last official Lamb that would stand in our place for the penalty of our sin. The wrath of God was placed on Christ when He died for us so that we could be made pure, holy, and blameless before Him when you decide to believe and follow Him.
Submitting
Once you are separated from the world and carnal nature, knowing who you are in Christ based on the finished work of the cross, you can begin the submission process. This is allowing the Holy Spirit to prune and refine you, bringing correction and conviction. In His love for us, He corrects us, and we show our love back through obedience. Obedience is not only following correction to not do something, but also instruction for what to do. The Word of God declares,
The Lord disciplines those that He loves and chastises those He receives.
Hebrews 12:6
and Jesus also said,
If you love me you will keep my commands.
John 14:15
Following correction and instruction is a choice, but at the same time we need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit for these to be clear. The Holy Spirit brings conviction and brings us to repentance. When we repent the blood of Jesus purifies and cleanses us for all unrighteousness so that we are dead to sin. The Holy Spirit then raises us to life in Christ, giving us the power to overcome any temptation or sin we face. We can crucify the flesh, and live by the Spirit by renewing our mind with the Word of God consistently and submitting to His correction and instruction.
Just like separating, submitting is impossible to do on our own and if we have not first set ourselves apart for the Lord through separation, this would be like trying to sanctify ourselves and rely on works to make us right with God. Through submission, the Lord purifies us to be who He has called us to be and how we are to live our lives. Burn out and backsliding usually result when we do not submit to the Lord and try to sanctify ourselves through works. Trying to abstain from temptation without first yielding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit also leads to pride and self righteousness because then we start dictating for ourselves what is right and wrong and interpreting the Word of God based on what we want to believe about it. Yielding means repenting of sin, acknowledging our need for a Savior, and choosing to obey His Word regardless of the sacrifices needed to be made. We see this in action before Christ went to the cross saying,
Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.
Luke 22:42
It was Jesus’ destiny to go to the cross and to rise from the grave. He could not have achieved any of this if He first did not choose to submit.
Abiding
While submission is a choice made on our parts, abiding is a state of being that the Lord facilitates when He sees that we are fully submitted to His will.
If you abide in me and my word abides in you ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you.
John 15:7
When we first submit by doing the will of God, in return He likewise fulfills our heart’s will and desire. Through abiding in Him, our own will and desires become more and more refined to be like His will and desire for us. We’ll find ourselves praying His will, plans, and purposes for our lives! As we come closer to Him through this process it becomes second nature to go through the process of separating and submitting. Obeying Him no longer would be a burden but rather a delight and also, because we are in Him, we are more likely to genuinely follow Paul’s example with this:
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James 1:2-4
When we abide in Christ, He gives us the strength to preserve during times we face trials and have our faith tested. To get this place we first have to choose to separate our identities from the flesh and this world and submit our wills to His will through obedience. This ultimately will enable us to just be who He has called us to be.
