Nehemiah portrays Christ as our Restorer!!! It
is the 16th Book of the Bible; 13 chapters; 406 verses, and c.
10,483 words.
Text: Nehemiah 1:1-6:15 (KJV)
Prophetic
Scripture: Nehemiah 5:19 (KJV)
Think upon me, my God, for good,
according to all that I have done for this people….
When
Nehemiah led the effort to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, he put his life on
the line to take a stand. Not only did he rebuild the wall, he also helped
restore the people from the effects of financial hardship and unfair taxes
imposed by cruel governors. Every imaginable enemy rose up against him, yet he
persevered to finish his righteous task.
Many Christians right now are much like Nehemiah. They are
fighting every imaginable enemy in an effort to stand up for what is right.
They are putting their lives on the line, not only to spread the Gospel but
also to separate themselves from the wickedness of this day. That task is
becoming more difficult to do, especially when many so called Christians,
friends, and family members are selling out to false and worldly ideals.
How many know that we have to make greater sacrifices than
ever before to stand up for Jesus and His Word.
On multiple occasions, Nehemiah asked God to remember and
reward him for his good deeds that cost him a great deal (see Nehemiah 13:22, 31).
We need to call on
God for a “Nehemiah season” right now. Ask God to look on your deeds of
righteousness today and reward you with good!!!
Did He not speak to us and tell us to Command Him!!!!
❖
Isaiah 45:11 Thus
saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come
concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.
All of us have at some time and to some degree experienced
having the walls to our soul torn down by the enemy. The soul is like a city
which we are to protect from the enemy. The soul is made up of the
mind, will and emotions.
When the walls are torn down, the enemy has a free access to our minds, our
emotions, or our will. He comes
in to deceive our minds into thinking wrong thoughts.
He comes in to stir up our emotions with anger, confusion,
depression, bitterness and the like. He comes in to influence or control
our will. When the walls are torn down, one may experience various
addictions and uncontrolled thoughts. In fact, he will set up strongholds of lies within
the city of our soul which must be torn down. We must confront the lies with
the Word of God, bind and cast out the enemy, and then begin to work on rebuilding
of the walls.
❖ John
10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I
am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
❖ 2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the
obedience of Christ.
Nehemiah in Hebrew is Nekh-em-yaw’, meaning consolation of
Jah. Then it goes to another root
word (naw-kham’) meaning to sigh-
i.e. to breathe strongly; to be sorry as
in to pity, console; to avenge oneself: to comfort; to repent.
When Nehemiah first
hears about the remnant that remained from the captivity in Jerusalem, he hears
that they were in great affliction and reproach. It was news of this
fresh disaster that shocked Nehemiah and brought him to his knees before God.
When Nehemiah got the
bad news, he sat down, wept, and mourned for a number of days. He also
fasted and prayed before the God of heaven (Nehemiah
1:4). He called upon God to hear his desperate prayer. (We find
that Nehemiah prayed continually throughout this study.)
He prayed day and night
and confessed his own sins and also the sins of his forefathers which had
precipitated the destruction of Jerusalem.
Nehemiah wasn’t afraid
to call God into remembrance of His own Word. He quotes, If ye
transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: But if ye turn unto
me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out
unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and
will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there (Nehemiah
1:8-9).
Here he acknowledges the
cause and the effect. However, there is also a promise that if they
repent, God would restore them.
He appeals to God
to remember that these are His people whom He had redeemed by His great power
and strong hand.
The first step in this process is given in
(Nehemiah 1:4). It begins with a concern about the ruins.
Then he makes a direct
appeal to God. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to
the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to
fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him
mercy in the sight of this man.
(He is speaking of Artaxerxes I; son
of Ahasuerus (Xerxes), who took
Esther to be his queen). For I was the
king's cupbearer (Nehemiah 1:11).
This may be you
today. You may be suffering from depression, an anxiety disorder, or any
disease or adverse situation. The wall of protection to your soul may be
in shambles. The door to your soul may be torn down.
What did you do when you
discovered that the wall or walls were torn down? Did you go to a
psychologist who tried to encourage you by telling you that it really wasn't
that bad ... just think positive thoughts and the problem would go away? Or did
you have a Nehemiah season!!!!
And call on Jehovah-
He-who-is- He who-was—who-will-be manifest!!!
Jehovah Jireh – who will provide!!!
Jehovah-Nissi -
who is my banner!!!
Jehovah-Shammah - He who is here!!! Jehovah-Shalom
- He is my peace!!!
Nehemiah acknowledged
the wrong and asked God for mercy to rebuild
the wall.
Nehemiah gives us an
excellent example of making an appeal to the proper authority. When the
king asked Nehemiah why he is so sad, he responds first by acknowledging the
authority of the king and explained why his countenance was so sad. When
the king asks him what he could do, immediately Nehemiah prayed to God (2:4).
Then Nehemiah turned right around and places
the judgment of the matter in the king's hands, If it pleases the king (Nehemiah
2:5a). Next, he sets the ground for making the appeal, If
thy servant has found favor in thy sight (Nehemiah 2:5b).
Then Nehemiah makes the appeal by asking the king to send him to Judah to rebuild
the wall. The king granted the request of Nehemiah.
So here is a man who,
out of his concern and after the confession of his heart, commits himself to a
project. He asks God to begin moving in the king's heart. Now this is always
how any return to the grace of God must begin. We get concerned. Then we
confess. Then we commit ourselves to action and ask God
also to act in our behalf, for invariably in an enterprise like this, there are
factors over which we have no control, and God
must arrange them.
It may be
that you may need to make an appeal to the authority over you so that you can rebuild
the walls in your life. Talking about your Nehemiah Season!!!!
However in chapter 2
when the enemies heard of the plan to rebuild the walls to Jerusalem, they were
not pleased. When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the
servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was
come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel (Nehemiah
2:10).
I come to tell you that when your spiritual
enemy hears of your plan to rebuild the walls about your soul that he
will not be very pleased either. Even some of your family members or
so-called friends may try to discourage you from getting the help to rebuild
the walls of your soul.
In Nehemiah 2:19, we find that the two enemies got another enemy to
join with them against the rebuilding. The Devil's men will join together
to keep you from rebuilding: Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem.
The meaning of the names
of these three men are interesting. Sanballat
means "strength".
Immediately, I think of Or else how can one enter into a strong man's
house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? And then he
will spoil his house (Matthew
12:29).
Tobiah is actually a good name meaning "Jehovah is good", but he is an Ammonite,
the enemy. There is a bit of deception there.
Geshem means "rain".
He along with the others will rain
accusations upon Nehemiah and the work.
Do you recognize these
names? Whenever you read of Ammonites,
Amorites, Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites, Perizzites, or any of the other "ites,"
you have a picture of the enemy of God -- the flesh – that which
relates to carnality. Medically speaking “ites” represents infections.
This satanic agency
within man inevitably resists the work and the will and the ways of God. Here
you have this same enmity that fought against Nehemiah, fighting against you
and me as well. When the enemies of God...heard of “the rebuilding of the
wall”, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the children of
Israel. (Nehemiah 2:10b RSV).
The next necessary step in the program of
reconstruction is COURAGE (Nehemiah
2:9):
Immediately courage
is needed. Whenever a man like Nehemiah says, "I will arise and build,"
Satan always says, "Then I will arise and oppose." Satan makes
things difficult when we start turning back to God.
When Nehemiah reached
Jerusalem with a few men, he surveyed the city in secret, and then he went to
the priests and nobles, and rulers. When he met with them, he confronted
them with the truth, the reality of the situation. "Then said I unto them, “Ye see the distress
that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned
with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more
a reproach" (Nehemiah 2:17).
You must also be
confronted with the reality of your situation and quit allowing yourself to be
deceived about the seriousness of the matter. However, Nehemiah didn't
stop there! Then I told them of the hand of my God which
was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us
rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work (Nehemiah
2:18).
We see, also, the need for caution. When
Nehemiah comes back to Jerusalem and rides about the city at night, he doesn't
just start putting bricks on top of one another. He doesn't rush out and get
all the people excited to build the walls. If he had, he would have fallen into
the trap of his enemies. The first thing he does is arise at night when no one
else knows, ride around the walls of the city, and survey the ruins. He takes
note of exactly what needs to be done. He makes an honest survey of the facts.
Then he begins to lay his plans.
These three principles
of reconstruction -- a display of
concern, confession and
commitment, and courage with
caution -- are basic to rebuilding your walls.
However, you must also make a decision to be determined to rebuild.
*
In chapter 3 you’ll see
how Nehemiah went about this task of reconstruction.
If the walls of your
life are broken down -- if your defenses have crumbled so that the enemy is
getting at you on every hand, and you easily fall prey to temptation, I suggest
you pay special heed to the process of reconstruction set forth in the book of
Nehemiah.
We learn, first of
all, that the people were willing to work; second, that they
became involved and immediately started doing something. Nehemiah, in
the wisdom that God gave him, set each of them to work building whatever part
of the wall was nearest to each of their own houses so that they were
personally involved in the work.
The rest of the chapter
describes how they went about building. It was all centered on the ten gates of
the city of Jerusalem. The people would be assigned a certain portion of the
wall defined by the gates that gave access to the city. As you read through
this chapter, you will find the names of these gates; the Hebrew names have
great significance.
1) First of all is the Sheep
Gate. This is the gate through which the
sheep were brought into the city to be sacrificed at the altar. The Sheep Gate, of course, signifies the Lamb of God, whose blood
was shed on the cross for us, and, therefore, it reveals the principle of the
cross. That is always the starting place for strength in your life. You have to
recognize the principle of the cross -- the fact that God will be moving in
your life to utterly cancel out your own ego, your own plans, and your own
self-interest. The cross is that instrument in God's program that puts the ego
to death. That is where we must begin building for strength.
2) Then move
to the Fish Gate. Now what
does the name "Fish Gate" suggests to you? Do you remember what the
Lord Jesus said to his disciples, "Follow
me and I will make you become fishers of men"? (Mark 1:17)
This suggests the witness of a Christian. Has that gate
broken down in your life? Has the wall around the Fish Gate crumbled? If
so, this gate of defense and its wall need to be rebuilt again for the Lord
Jesus said that every Christian is to be a witness for him (Acts 1:8). If this wall
is broken down, you will find that through this the enemy will enter again and
again. If you can never say a word for Christ, if there is never any witness in
your life, then this wall is broken, and the Fish Gate needs to be built again.
3) The next
gate is the Old Gate.
You will find it in verse six. What does this gate symbolize? Well, I suggest
that it represents truth. In many Christians' lives, this gate is broken
down -- they are no longer resting upon truth. Truth is always old, and
it is upon old things that everything new must rest. Somebody has well said, "Whatever
is true is not new, and whatever is new is not true." These are
the days when the old truth is being forsaken. Men are rapidly throwing away
what the church has stood for. They are saying that we don't need these things
anymore. But if we allow this old truth to go, we find that the
wall crumbles and the enemies outside gain access to our soul. Truth will never change. It was
true when it was uttered. It was also true two thousand years before it was
uttered. And it will be true a hundred thousand years from now. The book of James 1:17 says in relation to God, With whom is no variableness (never changing) neither shadow of turning. Malachi
3:6 I am the LORD, I change not.
That is truth. Truth is always the same. It never changes.
We need to rebuild the old gates of truth.
4) The next
gate is the Dung Gate
– the place through which all the refuse of the city was carried; all the
rubbish, all the filth was carried. It was taken out through the Dung Gate. And people of God, if
you do not have a dung gate in your life, you’re in bad shape because
all the refuse in your life is accumulated, and it will make you smell in the
sight of God and man. And if this gate is broken down so none of the rubbish
can be cleansed away, this needs to be repaired.
❖ Philippians 3:8 (KJV) Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung,
that I may win Christ.
Talking
about pressing toward the Mark of the high calling of Christ!!!
❖
Isaiah
3:24 (KJV) And it shall come to pass, that instead of
sweet smell there shall be stink.
We want our garments to smell good in the nostrils of God.
❖
Psalms
45:8 (KJV) All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee
glad.
5) The next gate is the Valley Gate, and you can see immediately what it suggests. It is the
place of humility. It is the place of lowliness of mind and humbleness of
heart. God has said in every page of Scripture that He is against the pride of
men. He looks for the lowly, the humble, the contrite, and those who have
learned that they are not indispensable. They have learned to have a low
opinion of themselves but a high opinion of their God. It is this attitude that
He seeks. This Valley Gate
often needs to be repaired.
❖
Luke 3:5
(KJV) Every valley shall be filled, and every
mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways shall be made smooth.
6) The Fountain Gate is next. That name reminds us instantly of the words of the Lord
Jesus to the woman at the well, The water that I shall give (YOU) will
become in (you) a spring of water (a fountain) welling
up into everlasting life (John
4:14). It speaks of the Holy
Spirit, which is the river of life in us -- the flowing of the Spirit of God in
our lives - to enable us to obey His will and His word.
❖ John 4:13 (KJV) Jesus
answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst
again. (Jacob’s well)
❖ John 4:14 (KJV) But
whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but
the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up
into everlasting life.
❖ John 4:15 (KJV) The
woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come
hither to draw.
7) This is followed by the Water Gate. Water is always a symbol of the word of God.
The interesting thing about this Water
Gate (as opposed to the one in our nation's capitol) is that it did not
need to be repaired. Evidently, it was the only part of the wall that was still
standing. It mentions the people who lived by it, but it doesn't mention its
needing repair. The word of God never breaks down.
It doesn't need to be repaired. It simply needs to be re-inhabited.
❖
John 1:1 (KJV) In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
❖
John 1:2 (KJV) The same was in the
beginning with God.
The Word of
God is the divine Logos, God in His capacity as creative power, and includes
all the potentialities of being. It is the idea of God, the image and likeness
of God, the spiritual man. In it are all the possibilities, all the qualities,
of GOD!!!
Whew!!!!!
Talking about Your Nehemiah Season
and Rebuilding Your Walls!!!
8) Then there’s the East Gate. The East Gate faced the rising
sun, and is the gate of most holy faith. In Scriptural
symbology, East represents the within. As used in Matthew 2:1, the word in the original
is plural; the significance therefore is that from the regions of interior
wisdom, come thoughts of reverence and rich gifts of substance and
understanding and every spiritual help for living a holy Life, the
Christ Child, that has begun its growth in consciousness or one’s
awareness. The Sun rises in the East which is the place or direction out of
which light comes. It is the beginning
or the dawning of a new day. The Sun
typifies God who is “Light”! And this
gate needs to be rebuilt in many of us who fall under the pessimistic spirit of
this age and are crushed by the hopelessness of our time.
❖
Acts 17:28:
In Him we live move and have our being!
9) Next is
the Horse Gate. The horse
in scripture is a symbol of warfare or power.
In this case the need is to do battle against the forces of darkness.
"We are not contending against flesh and blood," the apostle says,
but against the principalities, against the powers...the spiritual
hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). This is the battle!
But just in
case you have to fight, God has given us the weapons to fight with in Ephesians 6 “the whole Armor of God”; Romans
13:12 “The Armor of Light”; and 2 Corinthians 6:7 “The Armor of Righteousness”!!!
❖ 2 Chronicles 20:15 (KJV) Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of
this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.
10)
The tenth gate is the Miphkad Gate or, literally, the "appointment/mandate
gate." This was evidently the place
where judgment was conducted. We need to sit and take a look at ourselves
every now and then -- to stop and re-evaluate what we are doing.
❖
Mark 16:15 (KJV) And he
said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel
to every creature.
❖
Matthew
28:19 (KJV) Go ye
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
❖
Acts 6:3
(KJV) Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you
seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may
appoint over this business.
❖
Acts 6:4
(KJV) But we will give ourselves continually to
prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
That
brings us around again in the last part of the chapter to the Sheep Gate, the gate of the
cross. The cross must be at the beginning and the end of every life. The
book of Nehemiah is teaching us what needs to be done to strengthen the walls in our lives.
Just like when Nehemiah was building the walls, he
encountered persecution that arose from building the city walls. When you start
to rebuild the strength of your life, you will find that a force immediately
arouses itself, both within yourself and outside yourself, and it resists God's
work in your life with every influence that can be used against you.
The persecution revealed here can be summarized in three
words -- contempt, conspiracy, and cunning. The enemies
tried to mock or heap contempt on what God was doing. When they failed,
they attempted a conspiracy. They even tried to involve the Israelites
in a plot that would overthrow this work. When that failed, they tried to call
Nehemiah away from his work by a very cunning scheme. But how many know
that still didn’t work.
Because we know the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth
day of the month Elul (the sixth Jewish month), in fifty-two days (Nehemiah 6:15).
So people of God!!!
This
is your Nehemiah Season……Nehemiah
represents one who has been carried away from the spiritual peace (Jerusalem)
into the confusion of sense (Babylon) and is desirous of again restoring the
Holy City.
Nehemiah has his representative in all those who have once
realized the peace and joy of the spiritual life but have been captured and led
away by the power of sense (carnal or flesh) and thought because of laxity in
keeping the divine law of God.
Nehemiah was but a cupbearer slave to the king in Babylon,
but his prayer lifted him into such courage and confidence in God and himself
that he went to Jerusalem and inspired the poor, downtrodden remnant of Jews
remaining there to rebuild the walls of that city.
The prophet Nehemiah is the faithful, persistent one within
us who believes in this divine possibility for man: the rebuilding of the walls
of Jerusalem, which is a symbolical description of the reconstruction of the soul
consciousness so that it will keep out negative and error thoughts
and conditions---this of course results in a renewed and spiritualized body.
Your Nehemiah Season can also be said to be that in us which
inspires us to higher and better things. He represents, too, the boldness and
the courage that set about the rebuilding of a character weakened
by sin.
We shall prove our victory over all seemingly opposing
thoughts and forces by holding to that inner confidence of Truth represented by the
words:
Nehemiah 4:14 (KJV) Be not
ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight
for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.
However, when
Nehemiah heard the words, he didn't lay down and play dead, he prayed. Hear,
O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head,
and give them for a prey in the land of captivity
(Nehemiah 4:4).
So when the enemy speaks
against your rebuilding the wall, pray.
Furthermore, So
built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof:
for the people had a mind to work (Nehemiah 4:6).
Nehemiah and the people put feet to their faith and joined
together to work.
Here we see a determination to rebuild. We MUST have a determination to rebuild.
Clap Your Hands and Give
God The Praise!!!
Father, I am asking You to reward our righteous actions with
good today. Cause blessing to come to us in ways we couldn’t have imagined. I
believe that our season of reward is upon us and I decree this is our “Nehemiah
season!” I call it into manifestation right now! In the
Name of Jesus! Amen.
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