Ascension Life Booklet . How Esther Became a Star

Gary L. Garner

What Is A Star?

Esther 2:7
And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.

Let us, first of all, focus our attention on the names Hadassah and Esther. Hadassah is the Hebrew name for Esther and it means "new" and Esther is the Persian name which means "star." This is where we get the title, "How Esther Became A Star."

The book of Esther is a picture of a Believer who grows up into Christ and points others to Him. A star is a body that has been placed in the heavens and given light for the purpose of making people look up.

Restoration Seen In Creation

Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep...

We can see in Genesis chapter 1 a picture of restoration. I am convinced that there is a great gap between Genesis1:1 and 1:2. God does not create things without form and void.

Genesis 1:3
And God said, let there be light: and there was light.

In verse 3 we see the first day of creation. The first day can be likened to the incarnation, "Let there be light." When Jesus Christ was born into this dark earth there was light manifested. God had a body. The incarnation is what proves to us that Jesus was legally qualified to represent us.

Genesis 1:7
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

In verse 7 we can see the crucifixion of Christ pictured. We can see Jesus as He hung between Heaven and Earth on Calvary's Cross. The crucifixion was God getting rid of what was wrong with us. It was God judging the world in Christ. It was getting rid of who you used to be. It was when God divided your "old man" from the new creature you have been made to be in Christ. Before you can enjoy who you are, you have to know how you got rid of who you used to be. A Christian is not somebody who just gets a little spiritual salve put over them and are just forgiven. You are a new creature in Christ. Romans 6:6 says that you were crucified with Christ.

Genesis 1:11
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

The third day is resurrection and points to the reality of who you are. When Jesus came up out of the tomb the Bible says we were raised together and made to sit together with Him in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6).

Two Great Lights

Genesis1:14-16
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

Two great lights. This points to the Ascension. Not only did God plan for there to be an incarnation, a crucifixion and a resurrection; but God wants the believer to rise up and become one with Christ in His Ascension. Day four points to this because there are two great lights. The SUN points to the SON, the Son of God, Jesus.

Psalm 84:11
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

The Lord God is a sun and a shield. We can see this thought throughout the Word of God.

The moon represents the Church because the moon is to rule the darkness, the night. But the moon rules the darkness with no light of its own. The only light the moon has is the light that is reflected from the sun. With that light, it rules the darkness on this earth. That points to the Church. You and I today as believers are part of the Body of Christ and we are to rule and to reign with the light that is not our own. You do not have any light of your own that is capable of driving out darkness. Any light that you have that will drive out the darkness is a reflection of the Son of God on you and in you. That is what we are to grow up into. That is what Ascension life is all about.

Judges 5:31
So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.

"Let him that love the Lord be as the sun" in other words, let him that loves the Lord reflect the light of the sun (Son), everywhere he goes.

So we can see then in Genesis 1:16 that the greater light points to Jesus, the lesser light, the moon, points to the Body of Christ.

What about the stars? Genesis 1:16 says, "He made the stars also." If the sun is Jesus and if the moon is the Church then those little bodies of light up there must parallel that in some way or other.

In my studying, the Spirit of God spoke to my heart and I began to get involved in the book of Esther because Esther means star.

A star is a body that has been placed in the heavens and given light for the purpose of making people look up. If there is any thing we need today it is people in the Body of Christ who can cause others to look up. Christians need people who will draw them to a Raised and Seated Christ. A believer has actually become a child of the living God. We have to think differently. We have to raise our expectations of our own life. We have to cause our ways and our thoughts to rise up.

In Isaiah 55:9 God said, "My ways are not your ways and My thoughts are not your thoughts." He did not say that so that you and I would constantly be discouraged and think there was no way we would ever be able to think like God, no way we would ever be able to enter into His ways. He didn't say that for that purpose. He is just telling us that His thinking is not like the world's thinking.

Renewing Of The Mind

Romans 12:2
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

We have yet to do that. We are not to be conformed to this world, but we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. That means that you replace your low thinking with high thinking. That means you replace the way you see things with seeing them from a higher level. And we can do that.

Business men have to see the power of God flowing through them in business. Housewives don't have to function in the natural to become successful at what they are doing. Regardless of what God has placed you in, you have a supernatural power to do it in your life today. You are not like other people. Christianity is not just forgiveness it is empowerment, it is anointing, and if you are ever going to lead other people to looking up toward God, then you are going to have to do some shining so they can see it.

Colossians 3:1-4
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Set your affection on things above, set your mind on things above because that is where your source of life flows from. You do not have just natural life. When you made Jesus Christ Lord of your life you were given a new kind of life; eternal life, heavenly life.

I am aware that so many times we read that scripture and think, I am to set my affections on things above because someday I will be in heaven but that is not the reason the passage is there. Yes, we will be in heaven someday but God wants you to think heavenward today because God wants you to be a star. He wants you to shine with the light of God. He wants you to be enlightened with revelation knowledge about Jesus so people will look up and see the Master instead of the problems and circumstances of life.

Luke 21:28
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

God is calling people to be stars; to be Esthers. Esther was a star and that is what the book is about. Let's look at some characteristics of stars.

Look Heavenward

Genesis 15:5
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, so shall thy seed be.

You will recall that this is when God was making a covenant with Abraham. He told him to "look toward heaven." You cannot see a star while looking at the earth. You have to look up.

Isaiah 40:26
Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he hath called them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

What is the writer saying? This scripture says to go outside some night and behold Him who created these things. That is what people need today; they need people who are shining, who have been lifted up in the heavenlies; who have been given some enlightenment; so that they could get their eyes heavenward. I'm talking about Christians like us, who sit in church every week. My desire is to point people heavenward. I ask myself, "Am I causing people to look upward?" Is there something in my life that causes Christians to understand there is more than just sitting in a pew until they die. Thank God that when we do leave this earthly body there is heaven. But there is some Heaven to go to Heaven in. I believe we are missing out on something. There is more to it than we are living. We have to have some Esthers. God is calling us higher.

Esther became a star. She became one who made it into the presence of the king and in doing so saved a whole nation. There is a church today who is wallowing in mediocrity that needs somebody to enter into the presence of the Lord so that we could save the nation that God has made this Church to be. That is what the book of Esther is about.

Job 22:12
Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!

Now my bible has a little "1" by this word height and it says, head. "How high is the Head of the stars." This means that a star has its head in the heavens. Let's make it simpler. If you are going to be an Esther, you are going to have to think higher than just carnal thoughts. Renew your mind to heavenly things. You cannot think like the world thinks. Your way of thinking cannot be governed by the 5:00 news. You cannot look at whether or not the Dow Jones' averages are up or down to believe whether or not you are going under or over. That is not God's way of thinking. A star thinks higher than that.

A star's mind is in the heavens. A star thinks, Phil. 4:19; My God shall supply my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. A star cannot lead people upward if they are living on a low level.

Psalm 148:3
Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.

All the stars of light praise him. Praise is a characteristic of a star. "Praise him ye stars of light." We are not going to cause people to look upward if we are complaining. If out of our mouths come the same negative things that come out the mouths of every single unbeliever in the world we will not cause people to look up. Praise him, all ye stars of light. I really believe every Christian is destined to be a star. A star is to praise. A star is to think on a higher level.

Nehemiah 4:21-23
So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labour on the day. So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that every one put them off for washing.

The margin says every one went with his weapon for water. There is a principle involved in "they laboured in the work until the stars appeared." The darkness came and the stars appeared in the darkness and they rested. What I see in this is very simple. When stars begin to appear there will be some supernatural rest in the midst of darkness. There is a lot of darkness (ignorance) in some Christians' lives and it is not because they have not been working; they need a revelation of being lifted up and set in the heavens. The purpose is to bring light so that people will look up. We, (Jesus in us), will be the source of people resting in the midst of their dark times. There is a rest that remains for the people of God.

God not only wants us to show people the Word, He also wants us to show people the light. His own reflection.

Matthew 2:1-2
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea (the house of bread and praise) in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

What caused the wise men to go where Jesus was? They followed a star. Wise men will follow a star. And where is this star located? It is in the east; as the rising up of the sun. This speaks of revelation knowledge (light) received into the hearts of believers.

Verse 3-8
When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

Why didn't Herod follow the star? He was not a wise man.

Verse 9-10
When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

Stars will lead people to Jesus. Wise men still seek Him, but the trouble is that the stars are few and far between. God help us to find out how to go from new born Hadassah, a new born Christian, to becoming an Esther, which is a star that will show the way. God help us to be stars, make us stars.

Dan. 12:3
And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

I believe that the world has a counterfeit for everything God wants to do. We see the stars in the world today; rock stars, country music stars, movie stars, athletic stars; could it be that all these individuals who have become idols in different circles to young people and old people alike are just a counterfeit for those stars in the kingdom of God, who are destined and designed to be planted in the heavens to draw people to Christ? I want to be a star in this world. I want to be His kind of star. Esther was a star and the whole book talks about how she became one and brought salvation to her whole nation.

For the past few years the Lord has obviously tried to bring us into a consciousness of being one with Him in the heavenlies. All we have been hearing about is Ascension Life. We have been raised together and made to sit together with Him. Now we are learning why. God is not just wanting us to rise up and sit together with Him for the purpose of making it easier on us, although it will. He wants us to rise up to a higher place in Christ so that the light from us will make people look up. Look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.

Much of the church world today is caught up in looking for supernatural manifestations in some area or another. Christianity is about Christ. The rest is all just a spin off. Pretty soon many are going to get tired of the gifts of the King and search for the King. I love to minister the healing power of God, but the emphasis must be on the Giver and not the gift. This is vitally important for a star. That star is leading wise men past the manger, that star is leading wise men today to the throne of God and to a heavenly King of kings and Lord of lords. To a meeter of all needs. Healing is great, prosperity is great, it is absolutely God; but you will not be fulfilled until you grow up into Him in all things and know He is working through you to bring others to Him.

How Esther became a star

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