Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Today we are starting a new sermon series going through the book of Nehemiah.

Now some of you might be familiar with this book of the Bible and know that it is about God’s people rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem

However, the book of Nehemiah is so much more than that.

The wall that Nehemiah leads the reconstruction effort on actually represents God’s work to build a people for his own possession.

A holy people separated from the world (hence the wall), who are forgiven of their sins and worship God alone.

In a very real sense, the book overall is about God’s work to bring his salvation to the world in Christ and how he invites his people to participate in that work

and how he desires to save his people from their sins and live with them in Jerusalem as

works through his people Israel to bring his salvation and the knowledge of his gospel to the world.

Now this might be surprising to some people because while they might not say it out loud, many Christians implicitly believe that the God of the OT is different than the God in the NT.

They look at the God of the OT as angry always pouring out his wrath and is always upset with his people while the God of the NT is loving, kind, and snuggly.

However, as we open our series in , we are going to see how God has been working since humanity first sinned in the Garden of Eden to save his people and bring glory to his name.

What we are going to see today is how since humanity first sinned in the Garden of Eden, God has been at work to save his people and bring glory to his name.

That he has always been a God of grace.

1.

A Troubling Report

:1-3 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.

Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, 2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah.

And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem.

3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame.

The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”

Nehemiah is a central figure in the book that bears his name.

He is a godly, courageous manned determined to carryout what the Lord has called him to do in leading the people of Israel to rebuild the wall despite facing opposition at every turn.

And writing his memoirs he notes that it is the twentieth year.

When Nehemiah says its the twentieth year, he means that is the twentieth year of Artaxerxes I who reigned from 464 to 423 BC making the time Nehemiah starts his memoirs around 445BC.

Artaxerxes was a king of the Persian Empire which at the time was the largest empire in the world.

So Nehemiah is writing this passage about 450 years before Jesus shows up on the scene in Jerusalem

But Nehemiah says that he was in Susa.

Susa was a capital city of the Persian empire.

If you were to look at it on a map it is over in this region located in modern day Iran.

Now this raises the question.

How did Nehemiah, a Jewish man who wrote a book of the Bible end up all the way in Susa which was around 850 miles from Jerusalem where the rest of the book takes place?

How Did We Get Here? (Historical Context)

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.

To answer this, allow me to give you a brief history of ancient Israel.

The nation of Israel was comprised of twelve tribes who were all descendents of a man named Abraham.

These twelve tribes were saved by God from slavery and Egypt and given the Promise land where they could worship God freely.

Abraham’s grandson was named Jacob whom God changed his name to Israel

God then calls a man named Abram and changes his name to Abraham saying the he was going to make him into a great nation and that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him.

Eventually, the people of Israel asked God to give them a king like the other nations and God obliged and eventually raised up a man named David who God said was a man after his own heart and wrote most of the Psalms.

Then in the book of Exodus, Abraham’s descendents have become a great nation comprised of twelve different tribes who were descended from 12 of Abraham’s great grandsons.

David had a son named Solomon who built the temple where God’s presence dwelt on the earth in the Holy of Holies in the midst of his people Israel.

While in Egypt the people of Israel are subjected to cruel slavery where God eventually brings plagues against Egypt to deliver his people so they might worship him.

Then Solomon had a son named Rehoboam who reigned after him.

Rehoboam was a foolish king who laid heavy burden on the northern tribes of Israel.

Then

Because of this, the northern tribes rebelled and the kingdom of Israel was split into two kingdoms.

In the north was the kingdom of Israel, and in the south was the kingdom of Judah.

The kingdom of Israel had only bad kings who led God’s people into idolatrous worship.

Because of their idolatry, God judged them and raised up the nation of Assyria.

Assyria destroyed Israel and took the people into exile.

Because of their disobedience, God’s people were removed from the Promise Land.

Judah, the southern kingdom, faired a little better but not much.

They had some faithful kings but eventually their wickedness grew and God judged them just like he had with the northern kingdom.

This time, God raised up the Babylonian Empire who conquered Assyria and eventually came and conquered Judah in 587BC so around 140 years before Nehemiah is writing this passage.

Babylon took God’s people into exile and removed them from the Promise Land as God had warned his people would happen if they failed to worship him alone.

This summary covers the books of Genesis-1 & 2 Chronicles as well as most of the prophets who warned God’s people of the coming judgement for their disobedience.

But then, in 539BC there was hope that God was going to redeem his people once again.

God raised up the nation of Persia who conquered Babylon and was led by a king named Cyrus.

Now Cyrus was prophesied by Isaiah to allow God’s people to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple to worship him once again.

This is where the books of Ezra and Nehemiah fit into the story.

Ezra and Nehemiah were originally one book, but at some point in church history they were divided into two perhaps because the book of Ezra focuses on the rebuilding of the temple of God and Nehemiah focuses on the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.

During Cyrus’ reign, he issued a decree that allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem from their Assyrian and Babylonian exile to rebuild the temple and once again worship God.

In the book of Ezra, these exiles return and eventually build the second Temple, the very one Jesus would later visit, around 515 BC around 70 years before Nehemiah.

So, at the time Nehemiah comes into the picture, many of God’s people have returned from exile to Jerusalem, the temple had been rebuilt, but God’s people still remained unprotected 70 years later because as Nehemiah continues...

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.

Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, 2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah.

And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem.

3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame.

The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.

Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, 2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah.

And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem.

3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame.

The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”

One of Nehemiah’s brothers comes to Susa and Nehemiah is eager to find out how God’s people are doing now that God is ending their exile and punishment for their disobedience.

Nehemiah asks about those that escaped referring to those who had escaped the exile and returned to the Promise Land to once again worship God, and the report he receives his not good.

Hanani tells him that the remnant of God’s people who returned are in great shame because the walls of Jersualem were broken down.

When empires conquered other nations in that day, they would remove the native people of the land and instead bring in foreigners to live in the land instead.

Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, 2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah.

And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem.

3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame.

The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”

The peoples and nations who surrounded Israel were surely mocking and scoffing Israel and their God because it appeared that the God of Israel was not even strong enough to help them build a wall to and rebuild his city around his own temple where he was worshiped.

This report rocked Nehemiah to his core.

The walls being broken down and the gates destroyed by fire probably refers to an event that happened in where God’s people attempted to build the wall earlier during Artaxerxes reign.

However, when he got wind of it, he assumed it was possibly motivated by a rebellion of the Jewish people against Persia so he had it destroyed with “force and power” according to Ezra 4:23.

The hope of God’s people was that their exile and shame was over.

The disobedience which led to their exile was put behind them and they were finally free to worship God as he had commanded them so that they could walk in all his promises and blessings as his people.

But Nehemiah gets a report that the temple, the place where the One True God of the universe is worshiped, is still vulnerable to Israel’s enemies without a wall.

Not only were God’s people still in danger, but their witness to the nations of God’s glory as the One True God of all Creation was hanging by a thread.

This report drove Nehemiah to prayer in Nehemiah 1:4-6.

2. A Troubled Prayer

God’s Faithfulness

The Faithfulness of God

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

4 As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

5 And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants,

So Nehemiah prays to God in hope that he will once again save his people and take away their reproach so that they might worship him.

When he says “let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant” Nehemiah is not praying unsure that God would hear him.

He knew that God would hear his prayer, but he was asking God to take action on behalf of his people to redeem them.