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“Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day.  I and my maidens also will fast in the same way.  And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.” – Esther 4:16

This is the courageous testimony of Queen Esther as she prepared to risk her own life in order to save the lives of her people.  It was a capital crime for anyone to intrude into the king’s throne room unbidden, but she was willing to do so in order to do the will of God, knowing that “we must obey God rather than men” – Acts 5:29.

In the same spirit, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were willing to enter the fiery furnace rather than to worship the humanistic gods of Babylon, testifying to Nebuchadnezzar that “our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.  But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” – Daniel 3:17-18.

God did deliver Esther and the three Jewish youths, but there have been many through the ages who have died for their faith rather than deny their faith.  All the apostles, except John, died as martyrs, for example, and so have countless others throughout the centuries.  “They did not love their life even when faced with death” – Revelation 12:11, if it meant denying their Saviour.

In fact, to deny the Lord Christ Jesus means eternity in the lake of fire: “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” – Revelation 21:8.  Cowards include those who would deny their faith in Jesus Christ when faced with persecution.  Liars are again those who deny Jesus as Christ and the Son of God.

Believers in many nations are suffering such persecutions today and the time is coming when the last great God-rejecting king of the earth, called the “beast” in the Book of Revelation, will “cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed” – Revelation 13:15.  If a similar choice confronts us, may God give us the grace to say with Paul that “Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death” – Philippians 1:20, and with Esther: ‘If I perish, I perish.”

Paul also wrote, “When we were with you, we told you previously that we are going to suffer persecution…” – 1 Thessalonians 3:4.  “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.’ – 2 Timothy 3:12.

And as the Lord promised in the Beatitudes: “ ‘Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ ” – Matthew 5:10

“ ‘I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ ” – Matthew 28:20

To be absent from the body is to be present with Lord – 2 Corinthians 5:8