"Let Us Rise Up And Build"

Scientists studied a native tribe in South America whose people have been dying prematurely for generations. After thorough investigation, the cause of premature death was determined. The disease was transmitted by an insect that lived in the walls of their adobe homes. This new information presented several options. They could move to another area where such insects don¡¦t exist, tear down their homes and rebuild them, use insecticide to rid their homes of the bugs, or, continue as they have and die early. Surprisingly, these people have opted to remain as they are and do nothing about their problem. Many people behave similarly. To save themselves, they know what they must do; instead, they opt to remain unchanged.

Time for a little backstory...

Their nations were destroyed, first the northern Jewish kingdom of Israel and then the southern Jewish kingdom of Judah. The city of Jerusalem was completely conquered by the Babylonians and the once glorious temple of Solomon was destroyed.

When the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem, they deported almost everyone from the city and the region – for some 70 years, Jerusalem was something of a ghost town, with the potential to end up like many ancient cities – completely forgotten except to history.

When the Jews were deported to Babylon, they began to make homes for themselves there. They settled down, and many still followed the God of their fathers, but they did it from Babylon, with no desire to return to the land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Some of these faithful Jews were raised up to places of prominence in the governments they were deported to. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego became leaders in Babylon; Esther was made queen in the courts of a Persian king.

But after 70 years of captivity in Babylon, they were given the opportunity to return to their homeland, the Promised Land. Out of some two or three million Jews deported from the land, only 50,000 decided to return to the Promised Land – approximately only 2%. But they did return, and in the days of Ezra, they rebuilt the temple and laid a spiritual foundation for Israel once again.

The Book of Nehemiah begins 15 years after the Book of Ezra ends; almost 100 years after the first captives came back to the Promised Land and some 150 years after the city of Jerusalem was destroyed. After this long time, the walls of the city of Jerusalem were still in rubble.

Before this, the citizens of Jerusalem had tried to rebuild the walls but had failed. In Ezra 4:6-23, we see that some 75 years before they tried to rebuild the walls but were stopped by their enemies. No one thought this obstacle could be overcome, so the walls lay in ruins and the people were still vulnerable.

As we examine this portion of scripture this morning, there are 4 things i would like to key on. Those are:

1) The Problem at hand-

Nehemiah is the cupbearer for the King, Artaxerxes. He is the man that tastes the food before the king eats, he is the man who takes a drink before the king. He is a trusted man. He lives in Susa which is the capitol city but it also tells us the he lives in the citadel. This means that he lived in the fortified palace where the king resided. This dude is tight with the king. He sees men from Judah and inquires about those still living in the province who had survived the exile. He isn’t ready for the news that is shared with him. He is told that they are in great trouble and shame, the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and the gates have been destroyed by fire. Let’s keep in mind that in the ancient world, the city wall was a defense mechanism. It was a form of protection and it provided a barrier between the inhabitants of the city and those who would come against the city. Comparing this city wall and our prayer life would be to deep to go into this morning but a city without a wall would be vulnerable to say the least. Enemies could not be kept out and what was inside the city could not be protected. These people are called survivors. That sounds bleak not blessed. How many of you know that God hasn’t called you to just survive. God has called you to thrive. He wants you to have an abundant life. He says that you more than conquerors through Christ. Y’all ain’t hearing me this morning. That deserves some praise or an amen at least.

2) The Position of Prayer-

I don’t want to focus so much on the prayer that was prayed; but, I want us to look at the position that Nehemiah was in when he began to pray. The word tells us that “I sat down and wept and mourned for days…”. Nehemiah was so overcome with emotion that all he could do was to sit down, weep and mourn. His strength left him. Have you ever had that happen to you? You become physically ill, you get weak and your legs turn into jello, you may begin to sweat. That is shock setting in on your body. But he didn’t know these people. He had never been to Jerusalem. And yet he was moved by his compassion for his people. We need ministers today like Nehemiah. We need believers today like Nehemiah. We need men and women who will weep and mourn for folks they don’t know and may never meet. God had begun to move on and in Nehemiah. Church, remember this. A great move of God will not happen until a great God moves upon a person. God was already preparing Nehemiah for what was going to happen. What is God preparing you for?

Next week we will finish by looking at the Provision for the work and the Purpose behind the mission.