Esther 2:15 Now when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her.

King  Artaxerxes of the Persian Empire (486 to 465 BCE) was insulted by his wife Queen Asti for refusing to be in attendance, in front of a grand royal feast, she had to be put away by law. Hence, a call was made to find the most beautiful virgin in the empire to replace the queen.

Esther of the tribe of Benjamin stood out in beauty and was able to get into the court of the King to be considered as a candidate replacement for the queen amongsts the other 400 beautiful virgins (according to the historian Josephus). She may have hidden her Jewish background for her hebrew name was  Hadassah. Esther was the persian name meaning star after the goddess Ishtar.

The Jews in their dispora from Jerusalem to Babylon became a small and vulnerable community. The had no "god-mother" to protect them. The Jews were very vulnerable as see later when Haman, an Amalekite managed to persuade the King to kill all the Jews of the empire for alledgedly breaking one of the King's laws! 

And so it became a competition not only to become the queen, but a type of saviour for her people. It was a competition amongst 400 beautiful virgins, each with only a one night stand with the King.

And the grace came in Hegai, the King's Eunuch, even though:-

• Eunuchs were banned from the temple assembly (Deut 23:1)

• Eunuchs can't offer sacrifices to God of Israel  (Lev 21:16–21)

It was in the background where the Cannanite faiths had priests who were castrated and became Eunuchs for the "kingdom of heaven's" sake!

The sexual organs were considered so important that a woman trying to crush a man's testicles would have her hand cut off! (Deut 25:11-12)

Esther submitted to the Hegai the Eunuch, carefully following his instructions of what to do, and what the king desires. It would not have been easy. Imagine, a Senior mega church Christian pastor submitting to a feminine man dressed like an "aunty" in the size of a big mama in women's clothing who is bitchy and loud!

Esther did not strive by her own effort, nor by her intelligence or beauty. It was by God's grace, and she had to wisdom to see and accept the grace that God has made the way for her.

Esther was a type of Saviour, a type of Christ, who offered herself to be naked and have sex with the King, in order to save her nation. She humbled herself, submitting herself to an Eunuch, the grace that God has placed before her.

God had it all planned out, and it was not Esther's outward beauty or intellect that saved the day, nor any effort to seduce the king, but it was all by grace, resulting in Esther gaining favour.

Without God's grace, her chances of becoming queen was 1 in 400, or 0.25%. But for grace to work, it needed submission not strenght, for Esther to submit to the Eunuch. In essence, the nation of Israel was saved from destruction.

Why should the Eunuch have cared especially for Esther to tell her the secret likings of the King? It didn't mattered to him nor would any potential returned favor from Esther have benefited him because he has no descendents to give any wealth to.

We know the rest of the story concerning Esther and how as a queen she lated saved Israel from Haman. What about the eunuch Hegai?He had prepared Esther with perfumes and oils to be a fragrant for the King. He gave beauty treaments.  He also prepared the clothing for Esther to wear and probably her hair arrangements which reminds me of the many gay beauticians and hair stylist in modern day Singapore.

There is no record of Hegai thereafter, and his name faded into history, but not forgotten being recorded in the bible for all to read. His name became a memorial.

Like Esther, for the church to become bride of Christ, she must be prepared.  There is a place for humility, for grace, and for submission.

God will put the modern day Eunuchs born from their mother's womb (Mat 19:12) without attraction to the opposite sex, the gay community, to prepare the church of Jesus Christ. God used Hegai as a blessing the nation of Israel, yet Hegai would not have been allowed to enter the Jewish temple of God.

The mega churches today were significantly influenced the revival in America in the 60s, and 70s, which was in-part driven by a dissatisfaction against the mainline churches in the era of the Civil Rights movement. It was the Jesus movement. One of the key founders whose picture and name were pasted in the front page of the Times and Life Magazine was Lonnie Frisbee. He died young, his work and name being covered up because he was gay.

Even though Lonnie spent his life to fan a great revival, he was not allowed entry into the church.

We all heard of Rev Martin Luther King Jr, the liberal Boston graduated preacher who was the Civil RIghts movement leader. But few remembers, that one of the key assistant was Bayard Rustin who organised the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the Washington 1963 March where Martin Luther King spoke the famous line "I have a dream".

Bayard was gay.

Bayard too wasn't allowed to enter the african-american churches such as the Southern Baptist churches known for her anti-gay stance.

And finally, we have the revered KJV of the bible commissioned by King James 1 of England in 1604 and was completed by 1611. King James was gay and it was said that "King Elizabeth" was succeeded by "Queen James". The King James bible was also influenced by the work of a monk, Desiderius Erasmas in his compilation of the NT known as "textus receptus". Erasmus was also said to be gay.

 Esther found grace, and favour, and God blessed the Jewish nation when she submitted to an Eunuch. Esther had to hide her true Jewish identity, so too many gays throughout history.

The time has come for grace to be returned to the Eunuch, to be allowed to enter the temple of God and be no longer considered unclean. It is the time for the rainbow to appear again in the sky. We are reminded in Isa 56:4, that the time is coming where the gay community would have a central place in the Kingdom of God.

It is now time for grace and the favor of God to come to the Gay community all over the world.  They  are no more hidden, but to be given a name, dignity and a life.