Opposition & Action

Revelation

Nehemiah 4:1–14 CSB

1 When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious. He mocked the Jews 2 before his colleagues and the powerful men of Samaria and said, “What are these pathetic Jews doing? Can they restore it by themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they ever finish it? Can they bring these burnt stones back to life from the mounds of rubble?” 3 Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, said, “Indeed, even if a fox climbed up what they are building, he would break down their stone wall!” 4 Listen, our God, for we are despised. Make their insults return on their own heads and let them be taken as plunder to a land of captivity. 5 Do not cover their guilt or let their sin be erased from your sight, because they have angered the builders. 6 So we rebuilt the wall until the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had the will to keep working. 7 When Sanballat, Tobiah, and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the repair to the walls of Jerusalem was progressing and that the gaps were being closed, they became furious. 8 They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw it into confusion. 9 So we prayed to our God and stationed a guard because of them day and night. 10 In Judah, it was said: The strength of the laborer fails, since there is so much rubble. We will never be able to rebuild the wall. 11 And our enemies said, “They won’t realize it until we’re among them and can kill them and stop the work.” 12 When the Jews who lived nearby arrived, they said to us time and again, “Everywhere you turn, they attack us.” 13 So I stationed people behind the lowest sections of the wall, at the vulnerable areas. I stationed them by families with their swords, spears, and bows. 14 After I made an inspection, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the great and awe-inspiring Lord, and fight for your countrymen, your sons and daughters, your wives and homes.”

1. Enemies Will Mock What They Don’t Understand - 4:1-3

The mocking of the people of God begins with those who have opposed this work from the start

You are never going to find a time when Sanballat and Tobiah and their colleagues were sympathetic to the work of God

And what they mock is the elements of the work of God that would be “natural” for them to mock

I say natural because without the Spirit of God, without one being awakened to Spiritual life, the natural man will process things through his natural lens

That lens is sin.

That’s exactly Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 2 in regards to spiritual wisdom

1 Corinthians 2:13–15 CSB

13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. 14 But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. 15 The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone.

The evaluation of the things of God, cannot be entrusted to those who do not walk in the ways of God.

So the enemies of God, mock what would be “natural” from a sinful perspective to mock; that is the physical nature and grandeur (or lack thereof) of the thing

I mean look at what they say

They call them pathetic

They mock the ability of the Jews for the great task

They mock their ability to ever finish

Or to bring back “life to the thing”

They mock the physical size of the work

all of these things, are keys that a person is viewing a thing through the lens of natural man - only that which I can see is important or shows a thing’s “value”

And here’s the thing, if we aren’t careful, if we don’t recognize this dichotomy, we can begin to listen and process through the same lens

We can begin to measure strength in the physicality of a thing

We can begin thinking success comes from a things physical greatness

And thus, we can begin to view the church through these lenses.

That a things bears no success if I don’t see it

And for it to be successful it must be physically great

But how could the Jews push back on this?

Because they knew their history

They knew just before the Exile, they had Solomon’s temple! They had a physical greatness like none other!

A greatness that brought the nations to come and see the temple and when they did...

It was so great they would give resources to make it even better

They had ALL of that and yet, just before the Exile they had not God.

And no matter how large the military, no matter how great the temple, they had no true security.

They had no true shelter.

Put your faith and only the physical nature of a thing, then you will stand by that and that alone

And no matter how great something is in its physical nature, something can always come along and destroy that

Just look at some of the most successful mega churches and celebrity pastors that have totally collapsed at a thing like

Being an angry and bitter leader, or being a domineering leader

Whole collection of churches gone at something that small? Really?

Put your faith and only the physical nature of a thing, then you will stand by that and that alone

But that’s not what Nehemiah and them do is it?

2. So Trust in God - 4:4-5

Enemies will mock what they don’t understand SO we trust in God

We look not to the pleasure or approval of those who have never been interested in the work of God; We look to God’s approval

Now we deal with an interesting couple of verses

Because we come upon these verses and think “We aren’t allowed to say this about our enemies right?”

And yet, Scripture is FILLED with prayers like this

The is an entire category of Psalms like this that bear their own name - the imprecatory Psalms

Listen, it is not unbiblical to pray and call for divine justice

Yes, do we pray for those enemies to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus - Absolutely

But if that does not happen, it is actually unbiblical to not call for justice

Because then we are saying the holiness in God, that which is His moral perfection, and His nature of Judge of all things, don’t matter

We are afraid to pray like this because we have a small understanding of the nature of the cross

You didn’t get salvation just but believing in this guy Jesus....

No Jesus had to do something first

Namely absorbing the wrath of God on your behalf

Salvation is freely offered but it was not free

Someone had to pay the cost and that someone was Jesus

So the calling for divine justice is not unbiblical

And does not contradict the prayers that they would be saved

BOTH are acts of divine justice.

It is just the question of who pays?

If they do not come to follow Jesus, they are saying they will pay their own way; and a call for divine justice is that they pay their own way

Which is a price too high for them to pay

But what do we do in the midst of that?

In the midst of people who have always opposed the work of God, who will mock and belittle it, who are saying that they can pay their own way?

What do we, the people of God do?

3. Strengthen Your Resolve - 4:6

The people of God keep working.

They press on forward

How?

“for the people had the will to keep working”

the word there for will is literally they had a desire to see a thing come to pass

That cannot be coached

It comes down to belief and action upon that belief

If you believe that God’s mission is accomplished through His people through opposition

Than when that opposition comes, there is again, a physical reality, and that physical reality gets overridden because of the spiritual conviction

Remember, Put your faith and only the physical nature of a thing, then you will stand by that and that alone

But, put your faith in God and in the reality that He will build His kingdom, than the physical reality is known not be be a necessary indicator of that

So we strength our resolve and than what?

4. Respond With Prayer And Wise Action - 4:7-14

The enemies were not mocking BECAUSE they thought it would fail

The enemies were mocking to MAKE the people of God stop so it would fail

That’s exactly why we see v. 7 they are furious, because the people strengthened their resolve and pushed forward

And as a result they decide to try to make war against the people of God in a physical way

SO we see then our point - prayer and wise action

The people are not so foolish to think stop at prayer.

God has graciously given His people such faculties as a mind to pray, but also such faculties as hands and feet to work and fight

So v. 9 the people pray and then the stationed a guard - does that mean they didn’t believe God would save them?

No, again, God has given such faculties as a mind to understand and comprehend

“God has already answered our prayer and given us what we need, minds and bodies to act accordingly to what we are seeing”

And through the rest of this section, that is exactly what we see, twice over

Prayer and wise action v. 9

Prayer and wise action v. 13-14

Right, v. 13-14 we see the same thing but just flipped in chronological nature

When they here they enemies are coming they take wise action - namely empowering people to protect each other, to protect the group

And then there is the admonishment which is in essence also a prayer, not to fear the people but to remember God, and draw to mind that which you are fighting for

Because it is important to remember your goal

In the midst of church planting in this pandemic it is important to remember our goal

We remember the goodness and greatness of God and then we draw to mind the end to which we are working,

So that we don’t lose ourselves along the way.

So in this passage there is a multitude of applications to you who sit before me

Have you committed yourself to following Jesus, have you been brought to Spiritual life?

If so, are you measuring things based on that?

Are you measuring success as a family and as a church upon the physical reality or the nature of the promises of God and the spiritual one?

Are you walking in the ways of God, are you trusting Him?

Have you strengthened your resolve? Have you told yourself, in the midst of opposition, LORD willing we will make this happen?

And lastly, how can you be empowered? What tools and spiritual weapons do you need to fight for the group?

Nehemiah wasn’t the only one empowered to work OR to fight

And remember, in the midst of the fight, Remember the goodness and greatness of God,

And draw to mind the end to which you work

And LORD willing, we will experience goodness and see His mercy and miracles along the way