The Vision of Nehemiah

Intro

Nehemiah 2:1–8 (KJV 1900)

1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. 2 Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, 3 And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? 4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it. 6 And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. 7 Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah; 8 And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

**Nehemiah is an amazing book with amazing truths**

*****PRAY*****

Looking at the text backwards…

52 days for the wall to be built…

Nehemiah 6:15 (KJV 1900)

15 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.

The Bible never says how big the wall was, but history and archaeological finds suggest the wall was 2.5 - 3 miles in length, about 15-20 feet in height and 8-10 feet thick…

It was a substantial accomplishment…

Here we skip directly to the great victory for Nehemiah and the people of Jerusalem…

2. How? The people had a mind to work…

Nehemiah 4:6 (KJV 1900)

6 So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.

2025 theme “a mind to work”

3. Why? Because of the vision (or burden) of one man…

*TEXT*

Nehemiah 2:3 (KJV 1900)

3 And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?

“Why should not my countenance be sad…”?

Vision: the ability to see, think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom

No institution can survive without a vision to pull it forward.

Anonymous

Proverbs 29:18 (KJV 1900)

18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Helen Keller was asked, “What is the greatest calamity?” She answered, “To have eyes and not see.”

Anonymous

The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but has no vision.

Helen Keller

Tonight, I will cast the vision (how the Lord is directing me and our church to proceed in 2025)...

The background to Nehemiah getting this vision to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem:

It all started centuries prior…

When King Saul, David and Solomon were kings over Israel…

This was the time of the united kingdom…

Then through Solomon’s sin - allowing his heart to be turned away from God because of his choice in loving many strange women…

God divided the kingdom…

Now Jeroboam reigned over the northern kingdom of Israel and

Rehoboam reigned over the southern kingdom of Judah…

This was the time of the divided kingdom…

Then Israel and Judah continued to sin, turn their backs on God and serve idols…

King after king did “…not that which was right in the eyes of the LORD.” (a very dark time in Israel’s history)

2 Chronicles 36:14–21 (KJV 1900)

14 Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. 15 And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: 16 But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy. 17 Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. 18 And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. 19 And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. 20 And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: 21 To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.

“…till there was no remedy.”

Remedy: repair, cure, heal…

What happened?

“they burnt the house of God…”

“and broke down the wall of Jerusalem…”

70 year captivity…

What was Nehemiah’s vision?

1. He acknowledged the broken down state of Jerusalem

Nehemiah 1:1–4 (KJV 1900)

1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, 2 That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

The remnant were in great affliction and reproach…

The wall was broken down…

The gates burnt with fire…

A vision requires more than hearing of the broken down state of something…

It requires a burden or vision to restore something back to it’s original state or better….

I can’t just acknowledge that my marriage is in a broken down state, I must have a burden and vision to do something about it…

I can’t just acknowledge that my spiritual life is in a broken down state, I must have a burden and vision to do something about it…

2. He acknowledged the only one who could repair what was broken

What if Nehemiah believed there was no hope of revival and restoration for Israel?

Nehemiah’s vision for Jerusalem was to rebuild what was broken down…

There is cause for concern if the walls of your home, marriage, personal life, ministry, prayer life, character, are broken down…

Verses 5-11 is Nehemiah praying / begging God…

vs. 5 “…I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven...”

Vs. 6 “Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night for the children of Israel…”

Vs. 8 “…I beseech thee…”

Vs. 11 “O, Lord, I beseech thee…”

Nehemiah 1:7 (KJV 1900)

7 We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

Nehemiah was begging God to bring the solution for what was broken down…

God is the only source of repair… my vision of what could be goes nowhere without faith believing God can…

John 14:6 (KJV 1900)

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Nehemiah acknowledged the brokenness of Jerusalem

Nehemiah acknowledged who could repair the walls

3. He acknowledged the solution for the broken

Nehemiah 1:8–9 (KJV 1900)

8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: 9 But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

The goal was reunion and restoration…

Nehemiah’s heart burned with a sense of urgency that something must be done…

How’s the state of your spiritual lives?

Hopefully you are capable of recognizing the ruin of what once was and you have a burden with a sense of urgency to do something about it…

We need to acknowledge when the walls are broken down in our lives…

We need to realize God as the only one who can repair those walls…

We see here the solution for the broken walls and scattered people was turning to God…