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Sermon of 08-02-03
Nehemiah
11 and 12A – God Resettles Jerusalem Scripture; “Here is the patience of the saints: here [are] they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12). Today
we look at chapter 11 and 1st part of chapter 12 of Nehemiah. We have
already looked at the 1st ten chapters. I’ve been told never to begin
a message with an apology. So I want to start this study in Nehemiah 11
and part of Chapter 12 with a confession. When I first began to work on
this chapter, I was shocked by what I learned! I found it to be nothing
but an unending series of hard-to-pronounce names. I kept asking myself,
"What can I do with this section?" But I am committed to two
unchangeable things: One scripture says “All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable,"
(2 Tim 3:16). And second, I am committed to the principle that whenever
I preach an expositor type series, I am responsible to declare the whole
counsel of God. So we are not going to skip these chapters. Why? Because
I feel there are some wonderful discoveries to be made in them too. I
have discovered that whenever there is a long list of names in
Scripture, God always gives certain clues which, seem to make that
section of Scripture glow with energy. The genealogies lists of names
often look about as interesting as a telephone directory. But if you
look at the clues you will find some things of great interest. That is
what we will do with this section of Nehemiah’s record. Chapter
11 is the account of Nehemiah's actions in repopulating Jerusalem. You
see, although the city wall has been rebuilt at this point, Nehemiah
discovered that he still had a problem. He had a well-defended city, but
no people to defend it with! So his solution was to recruit families to
move there. We
discover this in the opening verses of chapter 11. Listen to 11:1-4A; “And
the rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem: the rest of the people also
cast lots, to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and
nine parts to dwell in other cities. V:2
And the
people blessed all the men, that willingly offered themselves to dwell
at Jerusalem. V:3
Now these
are the chief of the province that dwelt in Jerusalem: but in the cities
of Judah dwelt every one in his possession in their cities, to wit,
Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the Nethinims, and the
children of Solomon's servants. V:4 And at Jerusalem dwelt certain of
the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin.” A
principle to remember when reading the Bible is that what happens to the
church of old on a physical level is often a picture of what is
happening to God’s Church today on a spiritual level. Whenever the
Bible is studied with this principle in mind, we understand God’ love
and forgiveness better. When we use this parallel here in Nehemiah, we
begin to see some of the teaching of this passage. Nehemiah
wanted to move people into the city because Jerusalem was the center of
the nation. Nehemiah simply issued a proclamation: "One out of
every ten people living in the suburbs must move to Jerusalem." He
cast lots to find these people. And the man with the number that came up
was expected to move his family to Jerusalem. There is something very
interesting happening here. If
you read this verse carefully, apparently a man was permitted to decline
if he wanted to. Look at verse 2 again. “The
people blessed all the men who willingly offered themselves to dwell at
Jerusalem.”
God wanted volunteers for this assignment. Those
who went were commended by the people. They were honored because they
volunteered to do what God asked of them. The same principle applies to
the church of today. According to the New Testament, each of us is
called into the ministry. Listen to Acts 1:8; “But
ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and
ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and
in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” The
moment any of us became a Christian, we were asked by God to take up
witnessing for Him. And we were asked to take up a ministry and teach
other the Gospel. Listen to Matthew 28:19-20; “Go
ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
V:20 Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I
am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Here
we are commanded by God to go. But He never forces anyone to go. He
wants you and me to work and teach others because of our love for Him.
Also He will never ask anyone to go without teaching us first. God
gives us spiritual gifts to perform His will before He sends us but he
never forces us. Yet,
if you want to be and honored by the Lord and respected by his people,
then the wise thing is to volunteer to help in the ministry he has asked
for you to do. I stress this because you will find there are always
needs for volunteers in the church. There are gaps to be filled
constantly. There is always a need for help. And God may be asking you
to take on a certain responsibility for Him. I pray you are listening to
Him when He calls you. Beginning
with the last part of verse 4 onward, we find text containing lists of
names. Some from Judah and some from Benjamin. The 2 tribes that made up
the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Please take notice that one of the names
of the descendants of Judah was a man named Perez in verse 6. You
may remember that Perez was one of the sons of Judah, from the twelve
tribes of Israel. You will find the story of his birth in Genesis 38
verses 24-30. It is the unpleasant description which relates how Judah
conceived his son with his own daughter-in-law, Tamar. In other words,
it was an illegitimate birth. Tamar
was pregnant with twins. Just as one child was about to be born the
midwife tied a scarlet string around his hand to indicate which one was
born first. Then the baby pulled his arm back and the other twin came
out first. Because of this, they named the baby, Perez, which means
"breaking out." His
descendants are traced in almost every generation since. Even here in
Nehemiah, some 400 years after Judah lived, Perez is still regarded as
one of the heroes of the nation. Now
with regard to the people of Benjamin, please notice that they provided
twice as many men from this small tribe as those from larger tribe of
Judah. The
history of Benjamin is found in the book of Judges. The last few
chapters of Judges tell a sad tale of people who fell into moral
depravity. The last chapters of Judges also illustrate religious
apostasy. Listen to Judges 21:25; “In
those days there was no king in Israel: every man did [that which was]
right in his own eyes.”
This is how much the people had degraded too. Even
though the tribe of Benjamin had degraded, two important men came from
this family. One was called Saul, the first king of Israel. But he ended
up being a great disappointment to God and the people. He finally takes
his own life on a battlefield. Listen to 1 Samuel 31:4;
“Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me
through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through,
and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid.
Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.” There
was another Saul who came from the tribe of Benjamin according to Romans
11:1. Listen; “I
say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an
Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.” This
Saul is better known in the New Testament as Saul of Tarsus. Later he
becomes known as the Apostle Paul who wrote over one half of the New
Testament. What
is Nehemiah trying to teach us? I think he is trying to illustrate what
Acts 10:34 says, “God
is no respecter of persons.”
God does not care how you started out in life. But God does love to
forgive and cleanse His children and use them in His mighty and
wonderful work. Now
from verses 10 to 24, we find a section with more names. These verses
tell of God's stipulation for the ministry within the city of Jerusalem.
If you have a city filled with people, then you need a ministry to help
maintain the spiritual strength of the people. And this is what we find
here. When
we parallel these verses with today’s church, we find that God still
has a need for such a ministry. God still desires men and women who are
gifted in teaching others to understand the great sacrifice of Jesus. To
help educate people in the doctrines of the Bible. To show others what
the Bible says about forgiveness of sin. To help people understand what
it means to be a new creature in Christ. God needs His Prayer warriors.
He needs His deacons and deaconess. He needs His choirs and pianists. He
needs His Sabbath School leaders and teachers. He needs His Pathfinder
and Adventure leaders. What ever your ministry in this church is, the
bottom line is this, God still needs men and women to maintain the
spiritual strength of His people as much as He did in Nehemiah’s day. In
verses 25-36, Nehemiah leaves the city population of Jerusalem and gives
a list of towns. This now brings us to the first part of chapter 12. It
too starts off with a list of names. You may wonder why would God
include all theses names. It’s clear to me. As
I bought out several weeks back, God doesn’t want us today to forget
His past heroes. Men and women of whom God used to accomplishing His
work. And I feel God does the same today in a round about way. If I
mentioned the name HMS Richards, how many of you remember him? How about
Joe Crews or George Vandeman? What about James & Ellen White, recall
their names? Theses are just a few of the heroes of our day and time.
Men and women who stood up against the temptations and pressures of the
world and accomplished much for Gods glory. God says in Amos 8:7; “I
will never forget any of their works.” He
also says in Isaiah 49:15-16;
“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have
compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not
forget thee. V:16
Behold, I
have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually
before me.” God
remembers His people and the work they did for Him. When
you get to verses 22-26 of chapter 12, we find recorded the
chronological time period we just looked at. Friends the Bible is based
upon facts. It is not a legend. It is not a myth. And it’s not
fiction. It is made up of historic facts about events and people. Each
chapter and every word was written for us today to prepare us for heaven
tomorrow. Do
you recall what I said at the beginning of our sermon? A good principle
to remember when reading the Bible is that what happens to the church of
old on a physical level is often a picture of what is happening to
God’s Church today on a spiritual level. We
have to remember that just as God repopulated Old Jerusalem, the day is
coming when He will repopulate the New Jerusalem. Listen to Revelation
21:1-4; “And
I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first
earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
V:2 And I
John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. V:3
And I
heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God
is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. V:4
And God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:
for the former things are passed away.” Ancient
Jerusalem contained the Temple where God manifested His presence to His
people. Jerusalem was described as “holy” in Daniel 9:24 and Matthew
27:53, but over the course of time, the city and God’s people had
become so wicked that Jesus pronounced the Temple a “den of thieves”
in Matthew 21:13. Then He predicted the fall of the city in Matthew 22:7
and Luke 21:20. But
here in Revelation 21, God promises a New Jerusalem. A place where there
will be no more pain, no more hurt, no more death and sadness. Only joy
and peace forever more. And it will be populated with God’s people.
And what does the Bible call God’s people? Our Scripture says they are
called “saints.” “Here is the patience of the saints: here are
they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus”
Revelation 14:12. When
we return next time we will continue with the last part of Chapter 12.
It starts the conclusion story of the wall that once more surrounds
Jerusalem. Jerusalem is once more a well-defended, beautiful city, and
filled with God’s true people. And it was time for a great celebration
and a re-dedication of the wall. And boy do they celebrate! The do so
with choirs, musicians and loud music. Please read the last part of
chapter 12 between now and the next time we meet.
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