Nehemiah 7 and 8: Revival Begins

Take 2

Turn to Nehemiah chapter 8

As you are doing that, I would just like to set the scene for us a bit

The physical labor of building the wall has been finished

We have drawn some spiritual lessons along the way

But it was a physical work project that has seen its completion

And if we look at Nehemiah chapter 7, we see Nehemiah completing last minute details, like setting the doors in place and appointing Levites and administrators, etc

These are all necessary things and part of what Nehemiah had been commissioned to do by God

And these are all incredible things that have taken place

wall finished in 52 days

The protection of God

The nations around are afraid—the hand of God clearly at work

God is truly receiving glory

But God is not done with His people

This is not the end of His work

In fact, this is where the real work starts

Because, while He has brought them back to Jerusalem, and given them a place to live, and this is all His work,

We have drawn some spiritual parallels from the previous chapter

But now we see God doing what truly only God can do

there is still heart work that needs to be done

Because God’s intent has always been that hearts change and that people love Him and follow Him from their hearts, not just from duty or obligation

And as we come into chapter 8, we see God’s spirit starting to awaken the hearts of the people and we see true revival starting to break out among the people

We can work on structure, organization, committees, service orders, all of those things

But if God is not renewing our hearts, those things are not going to accomplish anything!

If God doesn’t work on the hearts of His people in this passage, and they are not renewed by the power of God, this new wall that they built will be for nothing!

and this is what I long for

For me and for us, more than anything else

Is for a spiritual renewal and refreshment

So, we are going to work our way through this passage

PRAY

I’m going to start with 7:73 and read through 8:9

Nehemiah 7:73 “73 So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel, lived in their towns. And when the seventh month had come, the people of Israel were in their towns.”

Nehemiah 8:1–5 “1 And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. 2 So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. 3 And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. 4 And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. 5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood.” “6 And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. 7 Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. 8 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. 9 And 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 wept as they heard the words of the Law.”

Wow, can you see the scene here in your mind’s eye?

Can you put yourself into this story and try to imagine what it must have been like?

God’s spirit is clearly at work here and something amazing is happening among the people

Ordinary lives

The people were gathered into their towns

in chapter 7, verse 4 it says that although the wall was built, there weren’t many dwellings within the city

It was just an empty shell—temple, alter, maybe some houses for Nehemiah and his staff

Other than that, not much

The big push to get the wall finished was over

People breathed a sigh of relief, and life just sort of went back to normal

People were gathered into their towns doing ordinary things

growing crops

keeping livestock

running businesses

Raising their families

And you kind of think, “Well, it looks like they are going to get back into a rut here”

Ah, but do you know what? God isn’t done with His people.

Because in the ordinariness of their lives, God is about to “invade” their ordinary and do something extraordinary

That’s what I hope happens to us.

Our lives may look and feel ordinary

but let’s never stop expecting God to do more than we can ask or imagine in our lives

But we have to want it. We have to desire it. We must seek the face of God for it

Unity in Worship

As we come into chapter 8, There must have been some signal given because the people the people return from their towns to Jerusalem

Only this time, they aren’t coming to build a wall

They are coming for something much different

They are coming for a revival meeting, if you want to call it that

And I love how this passage describes their gathering

They gathered as one man

As one person, or one unit, they all returned to Jerusalem and gathered in the square in front of the Water Gate

What made them come? It doesn’t say

But I would like to say that it was God moving them to come

Before the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts

Yet God is still at work in the lives of His people and orchestrating events to bring Glory to Himself

The elders and I gather for prayer in the mornings before our service (btw, you guys are invited to come and join us)

And when we are down there, we hear people coming in above us

And coming to church can be a duty. It can feel like a chore

But I am always grateful as i hear you all coming in up there and the sound of conversation beginning to swell

And I pray that we are coming together as one person for the purpose of worship

The reading of the Law

Why did they come together so eagerly, unified?

They summoned Ezra the scribe and told him to bring out the Book of the Law

You know, I’ve wondered, How well did the people know the Law?

How well did they know God’s words to them?

They had just come from being scattered in captivity. How much was the Law read there?

I don’t know. One thing’s for sure, they didn’t each have their own copy of the Book of the Law

They didn’t have smartphones

They didn’t have paper copies

Many of them were probably illiterate, even if they had their own copy, they couldn’t read it

But I am just struck by this request that they have to bring out the book of the law

Because it speaks to me of a hunger that they have

They have been away from God too long

It has been far too long since they have heard from God

It’s been far too long since God has revealed Himself to them, and they know that they need God.

They need Him to speak. They need Him to reveal Himself

Prov 29:18 is one verse that i fear is many times misinterpreted. The KJV says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish”

And we are told, you need to develop a vision statement for yourself and your church, or else your organization will die

And there is some truth to that, but that’s not exactly what this verse is saying. The ESV says

Proverbs 29:18 “18 Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.”

See, what this verse is talking about is the importance of hearing from God. Of God being revealed to us. hearing from God. Of God being revealed to us!

Because if we don’t hear from God. If we don’t recognize his work among us, then it’s every man for himself

The people cast off restraint. what is there to keep people from doign what they want, if they aren’t hearing from God

And so, the people come together, know their history and how they have strayed from God and knowing without a shadow of a doubt that they need to hear from God

Folks, are you hearing from God?

Is the Holy Spirit speaking to your hearts?

I am praying for spiritual renewal and revival for us and for this community

But generally the Holy Spirit isn’t going to come and whack us over the heads to make us listen to Him

But we as His people are going to need to come together in unity for the purpose of hearing from Him and listening to what He is saying to us

And that is why I am committed to Scripture being an integral part of our worship services

Because this is God’s Word. This is God’s message preserved for us.

The Holy Spirit will lead us, yes, but never contrary to the Word

And so, is Scripture a vital and integral part of your lives?

The people stand in the square listening to the Word of God From early morning to midday.

it says in verse 5 that they stood at the reading of the Word

But from early morning to midday, they are in the square listening to the Book of the Law

Again, this shows how hungry they are to hear from God

You know, I get kind of worried if I’m up here preaching and that minute hand starts to go past 11:30

And I get it. Because if I’m there on the bench and the speaker starts going on too long, I get antsy too

And we make excuses about “Oh, people’s attention spans aren’t as long as they used to be”

and that might be the case, but what about our hunger to hear the Word of God explained to us?

If we were hungry enough, if God was reviving us, would we sit and study the Word of God from early morning to midday?

And while it is being read, there are men explaining it to them

The response to the message of God

You know their response to God’s message was a very emotional and physical response

I fear for us that hearing the Scripture being read can be kind of old hat sometimes

We have multiple copies of the Bible lying about our house

We have it on our phones, on our tablets, on our computers, on our walls

It’s everywhere!

And we can hear it being read, and be like “ho hum, I’ve heard that before”

And we can hear Scripture being read and be like “ho hum. Yep, heard that before. Got that on my wall. Tell me something I don’t know”

But these folks had a very different, a very emotional response

And this is part of the Spirit of God working on their hearts

They stood

This is something that we don’t do.

I’ve thought about asking us to do it

But what does this show? A reverence and honor, not for a book, not for a scroll, but for the message of God to them

It shows a reverence and willingness and eagerness to receive from God

There might have been so elements of tradition here, but I believe God is clearly at work and they are ready to receive to hear

And again, did they stand all morning long? It’s quite possible

Expressive worship

Look at how expressive they are in their worship and in their response to the reading of the law

Nehemiah 8:6 “6 And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.”

God is speaking to them. The word of God is being explained to them and it brings a spiritual response which is demonstrated in a physical response in their worship

They didn’t just stand there with stony faces and inwardly think, “That’s a good point, Ezra”

No, they

said, “amen, amen”—so be it, God

Lifted their hands—praise, but also surrender

Bowed with their faces to the ground

Folks, I am certainly preaching to myself on this one

I am not the most expressive person in church and so this point is convicting for me

I know that we are good stalwart German people, but sometimes I think, “couldn’t I, couldn’t we, just allow ourselves to be a little more expressive in our worship?

I think about it more when I’m in front

“Blessed Assurance” sung at the funeral

If the Holy Spirit is bringing revival and renewal to our hearts, I believe we are going to see it in our worship

Not that we have to be super charismatic, but at the very least that it comes through in our expressions and our voices

Weeping

The people wept as they heard the Law being read

God’s message to them brought weeping.

Weeping for exactly what? We don’t know

But I just imagine there being intense emotion on so many levels.

Weeping in repentence for sin

Weeping for what used to be

Weeping for what could have been

Weeping for the years that the locusts have eaten (prophet Joel)

Weeping for family members who weren’t able to be with them and who had to stay behind in captivity

When is the last time that you opened the pages of Scripture, and you heard from God and you wept?

I get it. Some of us cry more easily than others

But have you ever felt thirsty and dry and hungry and far from God and then you open up Scripture and you read, He is revealed in a new way to you

And it brings weeping and tears

I imagine all of these things being part of a spiritual revival and renewal

I know that it’s probably time to close here

But, again, this is a beautiful passage of Scripture, and I love to see God’s spirit working