The Bible Series Nehemiah
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Transcript
J. Oswald Sanders
It is possible to move men through God by prayer alone.
John Bunyan
You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.
Charles Swindoll
Vision is essential for survival. It is spawned by faith, sustained by hope, sparked by imagination, and strengthened by enthusiasm. It is greater than sight, deeper than a dream, broader than an idea. Vision encompasses vast vistas outside the realm of the predictable, the safe, the expected. No wonder we perish without it!…
Vision is looking at life through the lens of God’s eye.
The book is Nehemiah named after the man that has a crucial role among its pages… a man marked by and known for both his vision and his prayers!
A man who had the audacity to look at life as though God existed and had a plan and purpose and THEN talk to Him as if He could do something!!!
I have often told people and reminded myself that PRAYER IS GOD’s WORK!
when we pray we are admitting we need HIM
when we pray He prepares our hearts
when we pray we see His perspective
when we pray we trust God more
when we pray He does great things
We find this man Nehemiah already a praying man because when he receives discouraging news… his default response is PRAYER…
Now 13-14 years have passed since the end of Ezra… remember these books were once written as one.
There is little argument that Ezra is the author of this book, however we see a great deal of what Ezra writes is taken from Nehemiah’s journals… there are many references and sections that we see into his heart, thoughts and words in this book.
Nehemiah’s Character
Nehemiah’s Character
Heartbreaking news is brought to Nehemiah by his brother about the shambles that the walls of Jerusalem are in. This breaks his heart… this news will also set in play events that God has prepared that will alter his life!
Notice his response Nehemiah 1:4
When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
HIS PRAYER:
HIS PRAYER:
Throughout this book we find Nehemiah praying and seeking God. in this first prayer we see an example:
He declares who God is
His character and faithfulness
He ask God to listen
He seeks God for himself and the nation
He confesses their sin and wrongs
He refers back to scripture and God’s promises
He is specific in his request Nehemiah 1:11
“O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.” Now I was the cupbearer to the king.
Consider now the opening verses of Nehemiah 2:1-4
And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, “Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?” Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.
It is so easy to read these verses and fail to realize that FOUR MONTHS go by!
The opportunity for a request is extended and he looks to GOD!!!
Prayer has made him patient
Prayer has been his focus so much even in the moment he prays
HIS PETITION
HIS PETITION
Nehemiah responds clear, ready, poised,
Nehemiah has a plan and gives him a time
Nehemiah request resources and letters (decrees) Nehemiah 2:7-8
And I said to the king, “If it please the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.” And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me.
HIS PRUDENCE
HIS PRUDENCE
Nehemiah mentions his home without mentioning Jerusalem by name
He gives God the glory regardless
He gets to Jerusalem and surveys the situation with just he and the Lord
As he seeks the vision of things he seeks God first
He cast a clear vision for the people Nehemiah 2:17-18
Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach.” I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king’s words which he had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let us arise and build.” So they put their hands to the good work.
Sanballat and Tobiah are the obstacles they face… fierce opposition
They lie, slander, discourage
I love Nehemiah’s response… Nehemiah 2:20
So I answered them and said to them, “The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion, right or memorial in Jerusalem.”
Doesn't even address their antics… he just points to his GOD!
Later he talks to God bluntly Nehemiah 4:4-5
Hear, O our God, how we are despised! Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity.
Do not forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have demoralized the builders.
What an amazing man of God and it is this man God will use in this books narrative...
Nehemiah Overview
Nehemiah Overview
There are a clear two sections in this book
CONSTRUCTION CH 1-7
A focus on rebuilding of the walls even in the midst of some great opposition, threats, and attacks
We see Nehemiah draw the people together powerfully
Working side by side
The battle is all of theirs yet… there is a readiness to fight
They work with one hand on a weapon the other building wall
We engage together!!!
Opposition is faced
Externally by Sanballat & Tobiah
Internally as well as there are those who are higher class oppressing the lower class
Nehemiah both puts a stop to this and leads by example
reminds them they are brothers and demands UNITY!!
The wall is rebuilt in an astonishing 52 DAYS! Nehemiah 6:15-16
So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.
When all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they lost their confidence; for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.
INSTRUCTION CH 8-13
This is a beautiful section where the hearts of the people are restored
Scripture is read and the people respond in a beautiful way Nehemiah 8:8-9
They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading. Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.
The scripture was read and explained
There is weeping over their sin
God’s word convicts!!!
There is a quote out there that states… “Defend the scriptures? It would be like defending a lion. Let it loose and it will defend itself!”
God’s Word is powerful… that is why our church is committed to preaching the Word of God! Nehemiah and Ezra do an amazing thing in this book… THEY READ SCRIPTURE!
Feast are celebrated once again
Nehemiah would return after his stay in Jerusalem as he promised but he returns again from serving the king to find sin once again has crept in…
Once again we are left wanting, desiring, longing for something more, something GREATER
The Setting
The Setting
In this last section of the books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah we seeing a stage set…
We looked last week at God’s oversight and sovereign control of human authority… His direction.
The captivity with Nebuchadnezzar would mark the beginning of what scholars call the age or times of the gentiles
God was now revealing his plan and work among the rest of the world with the gentiles
We have seen the return of the people to Jerusalem
We have seen the rebuilding of the Temple
We have seen the rebuilding of the walls
We have seen the restoration of God’s people to His word
But what about a KINGDOM??? What about a KING???
What’s Next?!
What’s Next?!
God was faithful to His word to the promise given to Abraham
God was faithful to His word to bring discipline
God was faithful to His word to bring them back to the promised land…
Chapter 13 shows the sad state of mankind’s hearts…
Nehemiah returns and has to deal with sin again
Mankind has a heart issue
There would be 400 years where God would not speak or give His Word...
BUT THE CLOCK WAS TICKING… Daniel 9:25-27 would declare a key…
“So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”
In Nehemiah 2:8 the King gives a decree to build the walls!!! We are even given the date of the decree!
The stage is being set, the King is coming and the kingdom will be offered!!!
God had been true to His Word before and He would be true to His Word ONCE AGAIN!