“Nehemiah, The Man & The Legend” Book Available Fall of 2023
FINISH YOUR PROJECTS | NEHEMIAH’S EXAMPLE
Victory robs the enemy of confidence.
The enemy realized it was God who won the battle.
While there was a great celebration, they needed to keep their sword handy.
Victory ignited revival.
The highest positions reward the Holy insight of a leader. We all know Nehemiah did not gain financially or materially throughout the 52 days; his reward was eternal, and God blessed him in significant ways.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Nehemiah had finished building the wall. What a God-sized magnificent accomplishment—the power of the Living God completed the wall through a leader and cup-bearing servant to an earthly king, highly respected by both the secular and the holy. The final brick was laid by the hand of God through weak and fearful people. Nehemiah didn’t just survive the attacks; he dominated them with the wisdom God wisdom imparted to him. And now, it’s time for Nehemiah to lead these wavering people to Judaism—their traditions, customs, and doctrines.
With the Lord’s help, Nehemiah survived three attacks: fearful workers, conspiracy, and a host of other challenges. Not one of these things worked to slow his mission given to him by God. Persistence and immovability offered rich rewards. However, the commissioning of the wall was only half the reason God put it on Nehemiah’s heart to rebuild; the other was to awaken the people's hearts to return to the sound doctrines of Judaism, which was the responsibility of Ezra. Since each leader of the 12 tribes failed to keep the people's hearts focused on the laws of God, Ezra was assigned to step up and preach.
REVIVAL AT THE WATERGATE
It was time for Nehemiah to sit back and relax. The leaders of Jerusalem gathered the people at the city square directly in front of the Water Gate. The Water Gate was part of the Temple complex rather than the wall. It was so named because it led to the city’s primary source of water, which is symbolic of the Living Water, Jesus Christ. But in Jerusalem, it came from the Gihon Spring, named in early Hebrew as the Fountain of The Virgin. It was also a traditional place to have the Law of God read to the masses.
The tribal leaders asked Ezra, the scribe, to bring the book of the Law of Moses, given to the people of Israel. While all the men, women, and children were present, Ezra began to read. The reading lasted from early morning until midday. The miracle? All who were present were attentive and understood what was read to them. Once Ezra started to read, everyone stood up in reverent respect. Looking back, we see that God used the attacks upon Nehemiah to gain their attention for this very moment. Once Ezra started to pray, the people raised their hands, then dropped to the ground bowing to the Lord in worship. The leaders of the 12 tribes explained the law to the people while they remained in their place after the reading. Folks, this is called a revival.
In every revival noted throughout history, two things were certain: first, there was a mighty outpouring of the Word of God, and second, there was a specific response in unifying believers to go out and make disciples in all the world. This happened in Jerusalem that day—Judaism came alive for lost people. As we learned in chapter seven, droves of exiled Jews were brought back into the homeland before the great revival when Nehemiah asked Ezra to read the law.
THIS DAY IS HOLY
Once the reading and worship had been completed, Nehemiah, Ezra, and the 12 Tribal leaders proclaimed before the people: “This day is Holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep” “For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.”
When was the last time you wept as the Word was read to you? The Jews wept because they were overcome by the memory of being released from captivity, facing the giants in the land (their enemies), investing blood, sweat, and tears in rebuilding the wall, and for their newfound freedom as bloodline Jews. But wait, all of this created a spiritual vacuum.
THE SPIRITUAL VACUUM
Did you know that the revival of the Word of God resulted from Nehemiah’s work, which is the first revival noted in world history? You cannot have a revival without a spiritual vacuum. God’s people certainly had that being exiled to Babylon for over a generation of living. Each grew up under the spiritual, psychological, and environmental deception of the aftermath of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, who captured the people of God—the pure bloodline Jews (chapter 7:6).
It is said that the environment of culture is the greatest influence for cementing beliefs in a growing child. I don’t believe there are any truer words.
Fact: Babylon worshiped pagan gods.
Most of Babylon is related to female deities, as noted in Jeremiah 52. Besides devotion to false gods, sexual immorality was widespread in Ancient Babylon, and cult and temple prostitutes were common. And let’s not forget that Babylon was the home to the Tower of Babel, which means several voices made a confused noise. As the Jews were led out of Babylon, they brought demonic doctrines that fronted their Hebrew God, creating a spiritual vacuum for all of them. Therefore, this created a perfect Holy moment for God.
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Narrator | Dr. Stephen Phinney
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