Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

God uses unexpected people and unlikely circumstances to bring about his purposes in order to bring about his glory and not man’s glory.

In the history of God’s work in this world, God has used the lowly and the meek of this world to bring about his glorious purposes.

He uses shepherds and turns them into kings.

He takes fishermen to become elders and evangelists.

When God does this, he glorifies himself above man.

Today, we continue our study of exiles returning to Jerusalem with the book of Nehemiah.

The person of Nehemiah is an unexpected heroic leader of this book.

He was a Jew living under Persian rule and by God’s amazing grace rose in great prominence and trust under the king.

We will look at this in detail more closely in a minute.

This book has also somewhat of an unexpected ending to Israel’s history in the Old Testament.

Nehemiah is the final book in the historical narrative only to be finalized by the words of the prophet Malachi.

It’s concludes as the final record of history for the Jews with no glorious crescendo to the story.

The Jews fall back into sin as their leader Nehemiah calls them back to repentance and faith in God.

Of course, we have one final word from the prophet Malachi, who was the last writing prophet of Israel and who ministered during the time of Nehemiah.

His words of promise of hope for the future of Israel rest in the promise of the coming Messiah, of the hope in God’s promised david King.

But for Ezra, Nehemiah, one walks away seeing faithful men of God, seeing moments of revival and return to the obedience of God’s commands but also seeing the grave nature of sin and how it has corrupted every aspect of history.

All of this sets the stage during 400 years of silence from God for the need of a rescuer to come, a rescuer that is greater than any who had come before.

Today we will look at the introduction of Nehemiah.

I want to share with you both some historical and theological markers that we can take forward into this final look in the lives of the Jews before Jesus comes.

Key Dates:

The first wave of Jewish exiles return under Zerrubabbel 539 BC

Temple foundation is laid 537 BC

Temple work resumes after stoppage 520 BC

Temple work completed 516 BC

Second wave of exiles return under Ezra 458 BC

Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem to rebuild walls 445 BC

Nehemiah returns again to reform the people 433 BC

The Scripture reading today was a prayer by Ezra proclaiming the faithfulness of God to his people.

This continues to be the theme of our study of Ezra Nehemiah as we see God’s unrelenting grace and love for his people and their failures against him.

The Author

Nehemiah is not the author of the book as much as the main character.

This book should be considered alongside Ezra as the final installment of the story of the returned exiles.

Early church history, as the collections of the books of the OT were put together, this book was called Ezra 2.

Even as Nehemiah is noted in the first person throughout this book, it is best understood that Ezra uses memoirs from Nehemiah to write this third section of the 2nd Exodus of the Jews by the hand of the the faithful God.

Chapter 1-8 are written in the first person while chapter 9-13 are written from a third person perspective.

While we did not see Nehemiah in the book of Ezra, starting in chapter 8 of Nehemiah, we will see Ezra as a contemporary of Nehemiah, still serving up the Law of God to the people.

Ezra is considered the author because of the continual story line with the contents of the book of Ezra and the similar writing style of both books.

We have seen the common phrase the “good hand of the Lord was upon me.

You can find that phrase in Ezra 7:9, 8:18, 8:22, Nehemiah 2:8, and 2:18

The Book

The outline of the book is simply:

Nehemiah returns 445 BC

Nehemiah’a ministry of rebuilding physically Ch 1-7

Ezra’s ministry of rebuilding spiritually Ch 8-10

Nehemiah’s ministry of resettlement geographically 11-12

Nehemiah returns again after 433 BC

Nehemiah corrects improper practices religiously 13

These writings are significant for many reasons both theologically and historically.

Theologically, they continue defining the characteristics of God that were displayed throughout Ezra.

Remember with me how he witnessed:

God’s Faithfulness

As I stated throughout our study of these books, we don’t want to make this study about man, we want it to be about God.

God raises up great leaders and we can learn great truths from them.

Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah have all been used by God in grand ways to further his purposes and his kingdom.

But the main character has and always will be God and we should see that again and again.

I have stated that God’s attribute of his faithfulness was clearly seen in the book of Ezra and now in the book of Nehemiah.

We have seen how God was faithful to send back the remnant of Jews to Jersualem allowing the escape from captivity.

He was faithful to send materials their way of allies and enemies so that the Temple and city could be rebuilt.

We learned of his faithfulness to once again allow the sacrifices as worship to resume.

God’s was faithful to protect them against opposition, to send them a great leader and priest like Ezra who was bold to challenge them on their sin by declaring the law to them.

He was faithful to give grace as the people repented of their disobedience against his holy name instead of bringing judgment on them once again.

In this final installment, we will see how the Jews are blessed by God with a leader like Nehemiah so that he might lead them to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and fortify the city.

The rebuilding of the walls was an important aspect of the security of the city.

For Artaxerxes, this rebuilt city was the property of his kingdom and the rising enemies of Persia could easy glance their lustful eyes towards Jerusalem in order to seige and capture it for themselves.

Therefore, God’s faithfulness will be seen in protecting His people by turning the heart of Nehemiah to return to rebuild and allowing the King to understand such a need as well.

Those walls may be simply stone, but they represent the unlimited protection of our almighty God that preserves his people in that land for 400 years so that the Lord Jesus would be come to display his deity in his power and in his sinlessness.

We could say that those walls represent the preserving power of God to deliver on his promise of a Savior who would come 400 years after the walls were restored.

The passage in Nehemiah 9 that was read is the word from Ezra to the people about all God has done for them through their history.

14 times in that recollection of God’s faithfulness in Nehemiah 9:6-38, the Phrase “you gave” is used to recount of God had done.

This just a testament to the graciousness and faithfulness that God has been to his people in spite of their rebellion against him.

Nehemiah 9:33 (ESV)

33 Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly.

God’s faithful character is displayed in the HB word EMET.

It means God is certain, dependable, he will never fail us.

Because God is truthful and he never lies, it means that his word is always faithful.

Similarly, because his word is truth and he never changes, or immutability, then likewise God is always faithful.

We cannot divorce these equal aspects of God’s character and nature.

AW Tozer writes,

Upon God's faithfulness rests our whole hope of future blessedness.

Only as He is faithful will His covenants stand and His promises be honoured.

Only as we have complete assurance that He is faithful may we live in peace and look forward with assurance to the life to come...The tempted, the anxious, the fearful, the discouraged may all find new hope and good cheer in the knowledge that out Heavenly Father is faithful.

He will ever be true to His pledged word.

The hard-pressed sons of the covenant may be sure that He will never remove His loving-kindness from them nor suffer His faithfulness to fail.

Tozer, A.W..

The Knowledge of the Holy (p.

81).

Fig. Kindle Edition.

How do you recount the faithfulness of God in your life?

Do you speak of the faithfulness of God before others?

Do they know and understand how good God has been to you and to this world?

Let us all be challenged this week to intentionally take a conversation with someone outside your home to recount God’s faithfulness in your life.

Steer the conversation away from sports for a moment and speak of specific ways you have seen God work in your life

God’s Faithfulness

God’s Providence

Secondly, once again we see miraculous providence of God at work as he turns the heart of the king to do the will of the King of Kings.

As I mentioned before, the security of God’s people rests in God and yet he provides a physical fortitude for us.

Our homes offer some measure of security for us but locked doors are not the source of worry-free rest.

Our security comes from God.

God moved the enemies of Persia by his Providence to raise the security alert for Jerusalem.

Artaxerxes I made a tumultuous reign in Persia.