A Confesssion of God's Greatness

Review: As the Jews interact with the law of God, it leads them to spiritual awakening. Verse 8-9 record for us a great movement of God whereby the Spirit of God moves among the people, leading them to see their sin exposed, mourn over it, and recommit themselves to their relationship with God through covenant.

This work of the Spirit cannot be manufactured although people are trying desperately these days. Dimming the lights, cranking on the smoke machine, playing repetitive soft chords on the keyboard does absolutely nothing to prompt the Holy Spirit to do a work among God’s people. Those theatrical measures are simply that…theatrical.

People have tried to reproduce revival through the ages and if history shows us anything, its simply this…God gathered people around God’s word are the components for God to work and bring great revival. You don’t need lights…you need the light of life- a focus on the Lord, Jesus Christ and all of God’s words that point to him.

You can go to the junk yard, find a rusty old car, tow it to the paint shop, put a fresh coat of paint, new tires, clean the inside, but if the engine is shot, its a waste of your money and time. Modern worship is seeking to do this…leave out the word of God and yet somehow generate this supernatural work of God by their own means. It won’t work if the Holy Spirit, the engine of change, in conjunction with God’s Holy Word, isn’t the center of that work!

Nehemiah 9 is a good example of the Spirit of work bringing change. The people have heard the law of God read to them. They have spent their time for celebrating and worshipping God through the feast of trumpets and the feast of the tabernacles. Now they are concluding that time and the focus on the Lord again in their lives had brought about great spiritual transformation…we see in them a renewed love for God’s word and a focus confession of sin.

Nehemiah 9:1–3 ESV

1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. 2 And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God.

This is a great example of how a people can truly gather and worship. As I have said, it starts with a proper priority of worship-with Christ and his word at center. The Jews have once again discovered the law of God in their lives. We saw it in the days of Josiah, and it appears, these exiles have once again found a new love for the law of God after returning from their time in exile.

Notice again the time the spend learning from the law…a quarter of the day. That would be 3 hours of studying God’s word. The word is having its effect because it is described to us their position of humlity in worship. The custom was to wear sackcloth, made of goat hair, and cover their heads with dirt in order to reflect a solemn state of mourning.

Why are they mourning? V 3 tells us it is both personal and national unfaithfulness to God. They recognize and confess to God that not only have their ancestors been consistently unfaithful but they also have been disobedient to what God commands in his law for HIs people. What follows from this spiritual awakening is a public confession of sin that reflects upon the faithfulness of God throughout history, the continual unfaithfulness of his people, and the great need that they have for a relationship with Him.

For the church today, we should read this prayer and reflect upon the faithfulness of God in our own lives. Let their history of unfaithfulness towards God’s commands also be a reminder of how God has been faithful to each one of us even as we fail him day by day. In response to this revelation, we put our faith in the the Lord Jesus Christ who says, “come to me you who are heavy laden, I will give you rest.”

I. A Declaration of God’s Greatness above all

Tell of HIs Greatness!

This prayer of confession is one given on a corporate level, most likely with Ezra praying for before the people. The prayer is overflowing with theological truth about God’s nature and character. It shows us that as we pray, we should always have in mind the characteristics of God. It is an honoring thing when we acknowledge his attributes that we recognize in his work in the world.

At the start the prayer Ezra praises God of his absoluteness. He is the one true God which deserves all our worship and praise. No praise should be subverted to anything else besides God alone. The reasons for our sole worship of YHWH follow in v 6-16. Let’s look at the reasons for our worship!

God’s great creation v6b

Nehemiah 9:6 ESV

6 “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.

Immediately, the prayer begins with God omnipotence on display in creation. God’s power is displayed in his creation as He creates something from nothing. His wisdom is shown in his unimaginable beauty and design. His love is shown as he places that special love on his created humanity, making them in his own image.

As He creates, he does not abandon. Instead he also governs and preserves all that exists in this world. From the smallest molecule to the greatest mountain, God preserves life and all that exists in this time (and the time before and the time to come.)

God’s great election v7-8

Nehemiah 9:7–8 ESV

7 You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. 8 You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.

The prayer continues as God is worshipped for his faithfulness in choosing Abram as the father of his people. He chose him from all others on the earth to become the Father of Israel, not because Abraham had any special merit in him to qualify him for being chosen. What God did see is Abraham respond in faithfulness in believing by faith that God would fulfill his promises in giving him a son in his old age.

God likewise chose us, all those who believe in Jesus, to be his people, to be reconciled through the work of His Son. Not of works of our own, so no man would boast. If you struggle with the idea of election, I hope you can see that it is not just a New Testament idea. Its not just from Paul or Peter. It’s described by Moses. God chose Abraham, not another Chaldean. He chose Isaac, not Ishmael to continue the lineage. He chose Jacob not Esau. All these things Paul summarizes in Romans 9:10-12

Romans 9:10–11 ESV

10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—

God’s great deliverance v9-11

Nehemiah 9:9–11 ESV

9 “And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, 10 and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. 11 And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into mighty waters.

Thirdly, they recount God’s deliverance of his people from slavery whereby He demonstrated his power over false deities and over arrogant human rulers to display this glory. He rescued his people from their bondage and revealed the power of YHWH to the Egyptians as well. He delivered them miraculously by the parting of the Red Sea, which defies nature and used such a deliverance as judgment on the Egyptian armies. God is the faithful deliverer who comes to the aid of his people and provides a way of escape.

Throughout the history of this earth, God’s people has much to remember about God’s deliverance from flood waters, dens of lions, overwhelming armies, blasphemous giants, evil rulers. The only deliverance that was not granted was deliverance of his Son upon the cross. There was no rescue but instead a forsaking so that reconciliation with God could be made. The atonement with his blood was necessary so that freedom could be granted.

God’s great provision v12-15, 22-25

They continued by focusing on his faithful leadership and provision of their Shepherd. God faithfully led them in the wilderness from Egypt to the land He promised they would inherit. Every step of the way, he protected and provided for them, so much so that in their 40 years of wandering, Ezra recounts,

Nehemiah 9:21 ESV

21 Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

In providing for them, God gave them his rules and laws for their soul and food for their body. The laws for their spiritual good while the food was for the physical good. They survived as a people because God never left them nor forsook them.

The prayer continues to tell the story that God’s people were given what they were promised by their faithful God. They walked into the land God had given them, defeating the armies that inhabited the lands, acquiring the fertile land for their own possession.

Nehemiah 9:25 ESV

25 And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.

Now if you stop and think about your life as you hear and read these words, you can do nothing but worship God for his same works of mercy and grace in your lives. He created you and cast his love upon you without measure and condition. He crafted you in his image and he calls you to follow him.

As a follower of Jesus, you can find comfort in knowing that you were chosen before the foundation of the world. God knew you intimately and personally before you knew Him because he predestined you by his grace. Just like Israel, God has delivered you from the greatest evil ruler and taskmaster that will ever exist, sin and death. This is where you and I need our liberation and that liberation is foreshadowed in the exodus of the Jews. Finally, along the way in this journey of life, we can recount all that God faithful gifts of life, provision and guidance prove that He is good and we are grateful for Him.

This leads us to worship! How can it not lead us to praise the Lord for all that he has done in all of history and in our particular stories? When we sing songs and gather each week, we come to give God praise for all this faithfulness. Its what we were created to do as mankind.... to give him glory enjoy him forever.

II. The Confession of Man’s Struggle with Sin 16-17, 26-31

Ezra changes the tone of the narrative in v 16 with the word BUT...

Nehemiah 9:16–17 ESV

16 “But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. 17 They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.

Verse 16 summarizes the rest of this chapter. Where the first section spoke of God’s faithful character, now Ezra leads the people to see the history of disobedience and failure before God. It is the undeniable truth of the doctrine of sin, that mankind will always fail to live according to the laws of God. From the entrance of sin into world, man has broken their covenant with God over and over again. Ezra shares that disobedience in a historical timeline:

at Mt Sinai: (16-18) when the people blasphemed God by worshipping a golden calf instead of the One True God who liberated them.

Nehemiah 9:16–17 ESV

In the promised land (26 : Even as God continually provided all that be established as part of his faithful covenant with his people by giving them the promised land, they still rejected him.

Nehemiah 9:26–27 (ESV)

26 “Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. 27 Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer.

In light of God’s perfection, holiness and faithfulness, man sees his failures and weakness. Man’s sin stands in contrast with God’s holiness showing us that we will never be able to measure up to His perfection.

The London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 states, mankind is...

“ by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death, and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus set them free. From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.” (Ch. 6, Paragraph 3/4)

Scripture tells us that our sinful acts against God will lead to our condemnation and judgment. The Jews understood this truth as they stood on the back end of years of captivity as a temporary judgment for their disobedience. That discipling of the Lord led them to be confess their sins and worship the Lord again.

If we can learn anything from this historical narrative delivered as a prayer to the Lord its that we all fall short of God’s glory. This is what Paul was stating in Romans 3:10-12

Romans 3:10–12 ESV

10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Romans 3:23 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

III. The Reality of Man’s Need for God. 32-37

The great deception of our enemy is that people are convinced that they do need God but the reality is we all do. This confession of the people hightlights that need for God and highlights his gracious character to respond to that need regardless of the offense.

Nehemiah 9:17–19 ESV

17 They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. 18 Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies, 19 you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go.

Nehemiah 9:27 ESV

27 Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies.

God remained faithful and gave grace to his enemies. This story is the story of God, that shows love when love is not reciprocated. He is patient when his people are impatient. He is just when his people live unjustly. We acknowledge as the Jews acknowledge that God is good and we are not. He is righteous and we are wicked and we desperately need him in this world to change us into something new.

This is the story of God that culminates in the work of His Son, Jesus. Jesus came to rescue the needy, to bind the broken hearted, to strengthen the weak. Ezra asks for help declaring that they are still slaves in the land, under Persia, but the greater issue is their slavery to sin to which we all need liberation. That liberation from sin is found at the cross to which Jesus was crucified.

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The Son died for sinners to show the great love that God has for his people and therefore in this prayer of Ezra’s before the people we can worship God, we can see our great failures before him and we can cry out to him and receive mercy

1 John 1:8–10 ESV

8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Do you know and acknowledge the greatness of God?

Do you confess that you sin has consumed you and without him you would die in your sins?