Two weeks ago, we read in Ezekiel 37:1-14 that God brings about our spiritual resurrection by his Word through the power of the Holy Spirit. God's people is a creature of God's word - creature in the sense that we were created and made alive by God's word. One author puts it this way, "She [the Church] has been made alive by the Word. God spoke her into existence through the declaration of the Gospel - his righteousness on our behalf."
The church has been made alive by God's word. It is also God's word that sustains us, just as how God's word sustains all things by his powerful word (cf. Heb 1:2). This Sunday, we take a look at what the Israelites did when they returned from their exile in Nehemiah 7:73b - 8:18. It presents a wonderful and powerful scene of God's people gathering once again after their exile. There is much we can learn from their example in this case.
