The People and The City

Introduction

Do you know what God is doing in the world today?

How does intend to accomplish His purposes?

It may surprise you to know that what God is doing in the world today is building churches that are made of seemingly insignificant people who have normal lives and normal problems.

That includes us.

Now after they built the wall in chapter 6, we read in 7:4, “The city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and no houses had been built yet.”

So they got the walls built but there were no people there.

Nehemiah had come from a palace in Persia, and now Nehemiah was at an outpost of the empire with few people and little worldly significance.

And at that time, that broken down dump was where God was at work in the world to advance His kingdom.

Maybe you’ve heard Christians today say things like, “We should be as excited in worship as people are at football games!”

And maybe you look at museums and stadiums and coliseums and places where they play basketball games and such and you think, The church, by comparison, seems so insignificant and so unexciting.

I would suggest to you that this is the way it has always been. It was this way in Nehemiah’s day, and it’s still so today.

To recap what we’ve learned from Nehemiah so far.

We seen how the people rebuilt the wall in Nehemiah 1–6,

Re-established the identity of the people in chapter 7,

Re-read the Torah and re-celebrated the Festival of Booths in chapter 8,

Confessed their sin and rehearsed God’s mercy in chapter 9,

Renewed their commitment by making a covenant to keep the covenant in chapter 10, and

Now we see them repopulate the city and dedicate the wall in chapters 11–12.

Repopulating the City With Volunteers 11:1-12:26

Why would they need to cast lots to see who would live in the city?

They did it because no one wanted to live in Jerusalem because it was dangerous.

Not like crime-ridden dangerous, but the victim of a marauding army kind of dangerous.

The opposing army would focus on where the money was, where the resources were, where the people of influence were.

Not in the hills but Jerusalem was the point of attack.

Another reason for not wanting to live in the city; if you lived in Jerusalem, you would have less land.

In the world of that day, land was necessary for crops and flocks and herds.

If you had land outside Jerusalem but lived in the city, who would cultivate your land?

Living in Jerusalem jeopardized security and diminished prosperity in terms of real estate

So they had to force people to live in it by drawing straws.

Those that drew the short straw had to live in town.

Yet Jerusalem was the city where God had set His name, so you’d think everyone would want to live there,

But it wasn’t good to live there.

So nine out of ten remained in other towns.

Yet in verse 2 those who volunteered were praised for staying.

Not sure if some were forced or not, or they all volunteered, but they willingly gave themselves to live in Jerusalem and were putting God’s program over their individual desires.

The move to Jersualem would have been less advantageous for them, so they did it because they knew what Jerusalem was all about.

Jerusalem was about the Kingdom of God and that was where God was at work in the world as unimpressive and dangerous as it may have seemed.

Those that lived there were putting God’s program ahead of their own.

To them they were pursuing God’s kingdom and the worship of God in Jerusalem rather than their own safety and prosperity.

That’s probably the reason the people blessed those choosing to live there.

What if I were to ask whom should we bless in our church for doing what no one else wants to do?

We may say missionaries

Children workers

Worship team

We often forget about those that do the unglamorous things.

Those that like to be doing whatever the church needs.

Those are the ones we should bless.

These people in Nehemiah 11:2 is a record of ancient, pre-Christ, Christlikeness.

Jesus is the supreme example of One who left all that was advantageous to Himself and went to a place that was not pleasant for Him, that was not exciting for Him, and that held no pleasure for Him: He got crucified.

To follow Jesus is to follow Him in laying down our lives for the benefit of others as He did for us.

We want to embrace Christlikeness, recognize Christlikeness, and celebrate Christlikeness.

That’s what makes it such a blessing to be part of a local church: there are so many people who are so Christlike.

So many are so glad to do things for the sake of others

Beginning in verse 3 through 12:26 is a list of those who lived in Jersualem and the villages outside Jerusalem and the Levites and priests.

These list emphasize the legitimacy of those who have returned to the land.

Their genealogical background connected to those God redeemed out of Egypt.

There were true Israelites.

The continuity and legitimacy are for the purity of the people of God, and the purity of the people of God is for the worship of God.

These are the people who belong in Israel.

These are God’s people.

Under the old covenant God chose a nation.

The purity of that nation is for worship.

So these lists, ultimately, are about right worship. They reflect God’s holiness.

God mercifully delivers people.

He finds them on the path to destruction, and He transports them to the path that leads to life.

Those on the path of life cannot worship with those who are on the path to destruction, because those on the path to destruction are worshiping everything but God.

So these lists represent the names of those who have been delivered from the path to destruction and put on the path to life.

These lists are about the worship of God.

What list is your name on?

Have you trusted in Christ?

Are you a member of a local church?

If you’re a member of a local church because you’ve trusted in Christ and you’ve been baptized into Christ Jesus as a public witness to that reality, your name is on that list.

If your name is not on that list, if you don’t trust Jesus, if you are not a member of a church, please consider the outcome of your life.

I offer you right now the opportunity to trust in Jesus.

You can receive Him. You can trust Him. He will save you. If you call on the name of the Lord, you will be saved (Rom 10:13).

In verse 26 we find a description of the Levites standing opposite one another, as though they are going to engage in antiphonal song back and forth.

They are doing this “division by division, as David the man of God had prescribed.”

The phrase “division by division” could indicate that one group will be responding to the other.

So it appears from this verse that the forms of worship David instituted have been preserved (1 Chr 23; 2 Chr 8:14).

Dedication Of The Wall Nehemiah 12:27-43

Now the returnees and the rebuilders are brought together in an effort to renew the worship of God in Jerusalem

Note the celebration is not for the completion of the wall, but to Worship the God of the city

They are now ready to dedicate the wall to the Lord, just as they did the temple in Ezra 6.

The celebration is a declaration that this city is where the name of Yahweh is made known.

This city is where Yahweh’s law is followed.

This city is for worship of God.

For them all of life was and is about knowing God and worshiping Him

This was an elaborate worship celebration.

In verse 31, Nehemiah has divided the people into two choirs on top of the wall.

One choir sets out in one direction and the other choir goes in the opposite direction.

They were praising God,

The words ‘to give thanks’ (12:31) translate one Hebrew word which means ‘thanksgiving’;

It is ‘almost as though these choirs were the embodiment of what they sang’.

The mass choirs converged, with a crescendo of praise, on the temple (12:40–42).

This was a fitting place for the choirs to meet because the building of the walls was for the purpose of protecting the temple so that the Jews might worship their God in safety

There will be a day when what this dedication points to will be fulfilled.

The people of God, us, will be brought up onto the wall, so to speak, and they will see a new Jerusalem radiant with the glory of what has been accomplished by faith, by the power of the Spirit.

We will worship God on that day!

This is a glorious celebration that was heard far from Jerusalem.

Provisions For Temple Worship Nehemiah 12:44-47

Now once again, we get back to provisions for the temple addressed in the covenant in chapter 10.

Nehemiah turns from the praise of God to the provision of food for the priests, Levites and the singers—even the gatekeepers were not forgotten.

This final section of chapter 12 may seem like a bit of a comedown after the euphoria of the preceding verses.

But what use is our worship of God, however enthusiastic, if it does not lead to practical godliness?

Nehemiah was a man to strike while the iron was hot; therefore ‘at that time’ (12:44), which means either on that day or shortly afterwards, he put in hand arrangements to care for the needs of the spiritual leaders of the nation.

In so doing Nehemiah was calling on the people to fulfil the promises made at the signing of the covenant (10:32–39).

We read that ‘Judah was pleased with the ministering priests and Levites’ (12:44).

Sadly, this pleasure was short-lived (13:10).

Cyril Barber makes an apposite comment: ‘When we are right with God … we will delight in those who minister to us in Christ’s stead … and count it an honour to see that they are properly supported in their work.’

Notice that there are no demands in verse 47.

The people set apart what was for the Levites, and the Levites set apart what was for the priests.

The people funded the worship of God.

Their perspective was, “Whatever it costs us, though we must sacrifice, we must support the worship of God in the temple. That’s what our lives are about.”

Our Day of Dedication

I look forward to the day that we can celebrate God’s goodness shown to us as we gather to dedicate ourselves to Him through our worship.

A celebration that declares to our that this church is where the name of God is made known.

That our church is where God’s commands are taught and followed

That our church for the worship of God.

And like the Israelites, for us all of life is about knowing God and worshiping Him

Prayer