Nehemiah 4 - God Over Opposition
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Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!” Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.
Intro:
We have been looking at the book of Nehemiah and seeing God being a God of faithful restoration - not of just a wall, but of all of the world through Jesus Christ. He is the God of the Wall, the God of Action, the God of Sanctification…and this week we see His faithfulness played out in that He does all of this while constantly facing opposition. In fact, He is the God OVER Opposition
Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!” Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.
Two weeks ago, I was walking with a friend through downtown Atlanta at General Assembly when my friend and I were at a Crosswalk. All of the sudden a younger man, who looked like he worked out as evidenced by his tight shirt, obviously not sober came up behind us saying things like, “What? You got something for me? Come on! What you got?” At that moment, he was on my left, I continued to talk to my friend on my right and we took the, “If we don’t look, he doesn’t exist” approach. He continued to talk junk, but to our great relief, the light turned and he walked off with a, “that’s what I thought!” The he continued talking smack to all the people he passed. What we didn’t realize until he was past us was he had a 9mm strapped to his hip…open carry.
When I got back to my hotel room I thought, “What on earth did I do to deserve that? All I was doing was going out with a friend for dinner!’ Opposition for NO reason at all!
Guy with the 9 mm in Atlanta
A few weeks ago, we talked about how a few characters emerged who would throw a shadow across the landscape of this book. And today, they are back. The Israelites had literally done nothing to provoke the surrounding nations, yet as we discussed, they are now literally surrounded by those who hate and despise them.
But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.
But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
It goes on to say, a few verses later, that they were despised and jeered because of it.
Why did they oppose them? Was it a good reason? Were they up to something malicious? No! It simply didn't please them that someone had come to seek the welfare of Israel! They jeered and despised them! Racist. Probably. Nationalists. Sure!
But there’s more - Israel in the OT are God’s people. And when God’s people are hated, it is a clear indicator of something far deeper:
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Have you ever noticed this in your own life? Especially with the faith?
Have you ever noticed this sort of thing in your own life? Especially with the faith?
From the outside: You may have outright had a person who is just like these characters - opposing you for no other reason than you follow Christ. I had a family member whose husband would follow her around the house while she got her children ready for church on Sunday making fun of her mental capacity.
From inside - A sudden iciness to going to church on Sunday. A Bible you once loved to read, or prayer that you loved to pray, or a sharing your faith that used to bring such life, now is lifeless. Cold. No motivation.
What we will see today is the continued pattern that has existed since and continues through today
FCF: ever present opposition to the Lord and His work (in us, the world around us) until Jesus returns.
Prop: Our God is a God OVER opposition - "great and awesome (14)" and God will ultimately "frustrate their plan (15)" and "fight for us (20)."
So we are reintroduced with the guys who I told you two weeks ago cast a long shadow across this book:
But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.
But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.”
Why?
Battle Cry (1-5)
Battle Cry (1-5)
The Battle: Unwarranted hatred (1-3)
feeble or finish up in a day (2) - they really don’t know what they are doing!, will they restore it themselves? Statements of their own weaknesses. Will they sacrifice? This is getting at what many of us may have heard in my life…oh, are you going to pray to your God? Oh, prayer, now that works! And they were exaggerating the whole stone thing - it wasn’t burned. The gates were, but not the stone.
And then in v. 3 Tobiah jumps in and says a fox will break it down. Friends, this wall was 9 feet thick. They were simply punks. This is bullying at its best. It was like Crabbe and Goyle with Malfoy in Harry Potter
Friends, I see it all over the place today. Mention you believe in Jesus and you are instantly misogynistic, racist, homophobic, demonized, no fun.
The Cry: Divine Vindication (4-5)
So if we read our Bibles we do find other places where God’s people prayed curses on their enemies. for instance. These are imprecatory Psalms, or Psalms that utter curses on the enemy. So should we do these things when someone sins against you? I would say let’s consider some of the further understanding of interacting with our enemies from the New Testament: Let’s look at Jesus’ sermon on the plain.
bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
You see, we look back on these things through the lens of the Cross: The God of the universe in Jesus Christ, died for His enemies on the cross to save them…us, to make us His children.
I would not go so far as to say it is wrong, per se, or that Nehemiah was wrong for praying this way, but the cross does change how we interact with our enemies after we see how He interacts with us. However...
There is something we can learn from Nehemiah’s prayer: Derek Kidner, in response to this section says this: “The Christian, while he has been given a better answer to evil, can learn from Nehemiah to look to God, not himself, for vindication”
Derek Kidner, in response to this section says this: “The Christian, while he has been given a better answer to evil, can learn from Nehemiah to look to God, not himself, for vindication”
Illustration of God acting takes away our need for self-vindication
Talk about the reality in this world of being sinned against and facing the battle of oppression. If we lose sight of who vindicates - the one who is just and right, we will spiral into a sea of bitterness and revenge.
Battle Posture (6-14)
Battle Posture (6-14)
Friends, v. 10 tells us that they were tired. Tired of the battle. Tired of the work. How do we face opposition?
So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.
But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.
In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.” So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
Unity (6, 10)
That first phrase, “We built the wall,” is critical to understanding how God enables us to stand in the face of opposition. The attacks were dwarfed by the faith, unity and energy of the weak working together. This was one of the things that was stressed by the text Jacob took us through last week. I’m convinced, as we read this, that this book is actually breadcrumbs that are leading us to ideations of the local church. Moving us from so much of what the OT talks about looking a the leaders of God’s people, to the interaction of every member of God’s people in God’s work, and in withstanding opposition.
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
Friends, not to be a downer, but we see over and over again in Scripture that the Christian life is a struggle. That statement “Striving side by side” is the Greek term, sunathleo, which means to contend or struggle along with.
Friends, not to be a downer, but we see over and over again in Scripture that the Christian life is a struggle. That statement “Striving side by side” is the Greek term, sunathleo, which means to contend or struggle along with.
In high school I went to a small private school, and we were always trying to get the best talent to our basketball team. One year we had managed to woo Freddie to our team. We were pumped. We were talking about states. But guess what happened? Freddie was a one-man show. He didn’t pass. He got mopey when the other team scored and he didn’t play defense even though he was the best around. But guess what happened? We got beat…a lot. And by the end of the year we barely made states, and our practice right before states a fight broke out, we forfeited. There is not standing against the enemy when we are divided.
Application:
Build the wall with other believers: Put yourself constantly in a place where you are “building the wall” with others in the church. Our constant slide will be towards Freddie - isolation and individualism. Shame, comfort can all put you there. Don’t wholesale accept that. It’s a lie. And don’t accept the lie that you have plenty of non-Christian friends and you don’t need close friends in the church. While non-Christian friends are wonderful, you are building different walls.
Be ruthless with discord (10) - I came from our denominational annual meeting, General Assembly, where it was named that our #1 entrenched sin is sowing discord. Talking poorly about others without going directly to them. Friends, nothing will keep us out of the battle more than that. It’s like watching someone else put a brick in the wall and coming behind them and hitting it with a sledge hammer.
Pray and Post (9)
I love this passage because it shows us both the importance of prayer AND the importance of Vigilance - Against the philosophies that plague our day.
Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Get Practical - as you pray about the areas in which you feel embattled by sin. An addiction. Sin patterns. Do you, along with briefly crying out to God in prayer, also post? Post an internet filter and enlist accountability? Remove yourself from that relationship? Stop looking at, reading, watching the things that pull your heart away from the Lord? Do you work on disciplines of the faith before opposition hits to combat the onslaught?
Rule of Life - Calvin calls these things rules of life.
Develop a critical eye - Do you accept every philosophy and opportunity that comes at you as good. Individualism, pessimism - are accepted wholesale! deaths of despair.
Remember (14)
It all hinges on this. Nehemiah tells the workers not to be afraid of them. You can work together all you want. You can pray and post all day long. But if the one you are praying to is impotent, unable to do anything about it, then it is all for nothing.
What are they called to remember? The outcome of the battle…That God is great and awesome!
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.
Matt 10:2
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Battle Outcome (15-23)
Battle Outcome (15-23)
When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”
So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.” So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; each kept his weapon at his right hand.
Frustrates (15)
In the midst of all of this we see that God frustrated their plan. Again, an acknowledgement that God is the one at work. It is a nod to - that unless the Lord builds the labor is in vain! How was it frustrated? The plans for division didn’t come through! And interestingly, the enemy never attacked. Quite possibly because of the king’s letters he sent to the governors.
What was meant for evil God meant for Good - Even the enemy Himself thought the cross would do it. The final blow. But then he rose again, and the cross, tells us, became the final blow.
Fights (20)
We actually don’t see this fight because a blow was never struck. But this picture of God being one who fights is a thread worth pulling. Regarding topics of opposition, oppression - it is good to thing of God being a God of mercy. But it is just as critical that we see the God who fights. Who is ultimately over His enemies. And again, Nehemiah paints a picture that takes us to the end of the book - and to Jesus, the ultimate warrior -
Surrounded:
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.
Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Rev 19:11
And a few verses later we see this city, Jerusalem, millennia in the future once again surrounded.
Rev
And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
You see, if we don’t even think God can win this war…we’re sunk. We’ll quit. We won’t pray, we won’t post, we won’t seek unity, we won’t build. We’ll just numb ourselves with stuff until we’ve lost touch with hope, and then we’ll be hopeless.
Hardened, softened.