This and other sermons in this Nehemiah series come in large part from a series done by Ray Stedman...just so that proper credit is given.
Get to it!
Nehemiah 2
We have in English a number of Proverbs that urge us to action when the
time is right. Shakespeare wrote, "There is a tide in the affairs of men,
which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." In the days when
blacksmiths were common, we used to hear the proverb, "Strike while the
iron is hot." Not many would understand that these days. Today we have
shortened it to, "Get with it!"
In the second chapter of Nehemiah we come to just such a moment. Last
week we left our hero weeping and praying over the ruins of Jerusalem,
beseeching God to lead him in a program of recovery. In the wonderful way
the Bible has, this is intended to illustrate the damaged and ruined
areas of our lives that need to be rebuilt, repaired or recovered. As we
pursue that interpretation through Nehemiah we shall find much practical
help on how to reclaim a ruined life. Many today find themselves in
almost total ruin. They have lost their way and are wide open to the
attacks of any destructive or hostile force. Others have severely damaged
areas in their lives. They are, perhaps, still held in bondage to
wrongful attitudes or habits.
It almost goes without saying that if you are praying for help, as
Nehemiah prayed for help in the opening chapter of this book, then you
should expect an answer. Expect God to do something. Be ready for it when
it comes. An opportunity to change will surely appear, at times rather
unexpectedly or after a longer period of time than you think it ought to
take, but it will happen because the God we worship is a God who answers
prayer.
We find Nehemiah at that point of opportunity as the second chapter
opens.
In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine
was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not
been sad in his presence before; so the king asked me, "Why does your
face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of
heart."
I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, "May the king live
forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers
are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?"
The king said to me, "What is it you want?"
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, {Neh 2:1-4 NIV}
Notice that this chapter has a different date than the opening words of
Chapter 1. It is in the month of Nisan of the Hebrew calendar when
Nehemiah finally has an opportunity to inform the king of his concern
over Jerusalem. Last week we looked at incidents that took place in the
month of Kislev, which is approximately the same as our month of
December. Nisan corresponds to our April, so there is a lapse of about
four months between these chapters. We are not told why Nehemiah delayed
that long in bringing his problem to the king. But we can presume that
because he was a man of prayer he was waiting for the Lord to indicate
the right time. Suddenly, in Nisan, that time came.
God often works in lives this way today. We are hasty, impatient
creatures. We want our prayers answered tomorrow, or even yesterday! We
pray, and we expect God’s answer right away. But God often delays his
answers. It is not because he is impotent or unwilling. There is much
teaching in Scripture that a delayed answer does not indicate an
unwilling God. We are taught again and again in Scripture to persevere in
prayer -- to keep praying till the answer comes. Evidently Nehemiah has
been doing this and the indication of it is that his heart is still
deeply troubled over the state of Jerusalem. So much so that when he
comes before the king in the performance of his normal duties of serving
the wine, his face shows his concern. This is the first time he had ever
allowed it to appear but apparently his concern is so great it breaks
through his control. The king notices this immediately and asks him why
he is so sad. Nehemiah tells us that his response to that question was:
"I was very much afraid."
That may sound strange to us for it looks as though the king is simply
being solicitous here. He seems truly concerned about the welfare of a
trusted and beloved servant, and he is quite naturally inquiring about
the cause. But Nehemiah’s fear has a sound basis. He was the cupbearer,
remember. It was his responsibility to taste the king’s wine before it
was served to make sure that no one had poisoned it. In those days of
totalitarian monarchs, assassination was the only way one could be
removed from office. The usual method was to poison his food or his wine.
This was a dangerous job Nehemiah had. It is obvious that he had to be a
man of unlimited integrity and trustworthiness. The king relied upon him
to keep him safe. He must be always above suspicion, keeping the king’s
trust at all times. If the king grew suspicious or distrustful,
Nehemiah’s life would be in danger. He would not only lose his job, but
he could also lose his head. That is why he was "very much afraid."
But Nehemiah was just such a man as the job required. He was trustworthy
and thoroughly reliable. You who are devotees of Public Television might
well think of Angus Hudson, the butler in "Upstairs, Downstairs," as the
kind of man that Nehemiah must have been. If you are not acquainted with
that series, then please forgive me for that referral.
Though this is a moment of danger, it is also one of great opportunity.
Nehemiah immediately senses that. This is God’s open door. Nehemiah’s
response is to shoot up a prayer to heaven for help. I hope you are
familiar with this kind of praying. We used to call it an "arrow prayer."
Perhaps we ought to update it and say that Nehemiah "faxed" a prayer to
heaven! In his thoughts, without words, he formulated a quick plea for
help, and then made his response.
In Verses 5-8, we learn just how ready he was for this occasion.
and I answered the king, "If it pleases the king and if your servant has
found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my
fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it."
Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, "How long
will your journey take, and when will you get back?" It pleased the king
to send me; so I set a time.
I also said to him, "If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the
governors of Trans-Euphrates [the provinces on the west of the river], so
that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? And may I
have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so he will give me
timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for
the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?" And because the
gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests. {Neh
2:5-8 NIV}
Observe how tactful is Nehemiah’s presentation. Twice he refers to
Jerusalem, not as the capital of Judah, or even by its name, for it had a
reputation as a troublesome city and had been the source of revolt in the
empire before, but he designates it as "the city where my fathers are
buried." That is an accommodation to the emperor’s own concerns. These
ancient kings were greatly concerned about their burial. The pyramids in
Egypt which the pharaohs have left are ample evidence of that. They
expended vast amounts of labor and money on their memorials. This king
would be immediately sympathetic to Nehemiah’s desire to go and restore
the city where his fathers were buried. Nehemiah wisely plays upon that
interest and presents his case in the best possible light.
Note also the thoroughness with which he had thought out all that he
would need. He knew it would require a lengthy period of time, so he
asked for the time he needed. The king had asked him how long it would
take, and Nehemiah records, "It pleased the king to send me, so I set a
time." He was actually gone for twelve years. I doubt if he asked for
that long a time at the beginning, but it took that long in the working
out of his plans. He must have known it would take at least a number of
years and whatever he asked for he was granted that amount.
In parenthesis, as it were, Nehemiah says that he asked the king, "with
the queen sitting beside him." There is obviously a reason for this
inclusion. Some Bible scholars think this queen might well have been
Queen Esther. She was a Jewess and would be very interested in restoring
the site of Jerusalem. Other scholars feel that Esther’s reign came
before this time though Esther may have been the mother-in-law of the
queen who is mentioned here. Whatever position you may take on that there
is at least a high likelihood that Esther had some influence upon this
queen and, through her, upon king Artaxerxes.
Not only did Nehemiah need sufficient time for this expedition but he
needed secure travel. So he asked for letters to the governors of the
provinces that he would have to pass through, to provide safe conduct for
him. We learn later in this book that this not only gave him diplomatic
immunity, but it also meant that he was appointed as the governor of
Judah. He does not tell us that at this point, but it becomes clear that
he was actually sent as a governor of the province of Judah. This would,
therefore, give him diplomatic status as he traveled. From secular
sources we learn that there had been trouble in the province of Syria
(just north of Judah), two years earlier. The satrap (governor) of that
province had rebelled against Artaxerxes. It is likely that the king
welcomed this opportunity to place a trusted man in the governorship of
Judah and interpose a buffer between Syria and Egypt who were often at
war in those days. Thus this proposed journey of Nehemiah was something
the king found very satisfying.
Finally, Nehemiah knew he would need some special supplies which only the
king’s authority could provide. He asked for special timbers to be cut
for him out of the king’s forest. Some have taken that to be located in
the mountains of Lebanon. But others say it was probably a local forest,
south of Jerusalem, from which King Solomon had taken wood for the
building of his temple. At any rate, Nehemiah got what he asked for. He
had done his homework thoroughly.
This suggests to us that if we are truly concerned about rebuilding parts
of our life, we need to think seriously about what it will require. We
must assess what we will actually need, what steps we should take, and
what may be involved in changing our habits so that we can be freed to be
what God wants us to be. Nehemiah teaches us that we need to face
honestly our situation.
In Verses 9-10, we get the account of his journey.
So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king’s
letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me. When
Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this,
they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the
welfare of the Israelites. {Neh 2:9-10 NIV}
This was an impressive array.
Dr. Willard Winter told of being back in Israel many years ago, he knew
what a difference it makes to have a military escort. When he was in
Israel, he was driving from Galilee back to Jerusalem through what is now
known as the West Bank. In those days it was much less tense than it is
today. On the way he picked up three submachine-gun carrying Israeli
soldiers who were hitchhiking. He drove them down into the city of
Nablus, which is the major city of the West Bank. Just south of that is
the little village of Sychar, where Jacob’s well is located, he asked
them if they would like to visit it with him, and found -- to my
amazement -- that though they were stationed just outside the city they
had not known that Jacob’s well was located there. They went up to the
gate and knocked on it. It was at the noon hour when the site was
normally closed, but the Syrian priest in charge of it came to the gate.
When he saw him with three armed soldiers behind him, he flung the gate
open and took him on a tour of all the premises! He really rolled out the
carpet! So he knew from personal experience that an armed escort makes a
great impression and commands immediate attention.
Nehemiah not only came with a full military escort but it is apparent
from this account that he came with the full authority of the throne of
Persia behind him. I want you to remember that if you set out to change
something in your life for the better, you have the full authority of the
throne of God behind you. You may proceed with full confidence that the
unseen but very real power of God is backing you up!
Nehemiah met two very troublesome enemies when he got there: Sanballat
the Horonite, and Tobiah the Ammonite. An Horonite is a devotee of the
god Horon, a local deity of Palestine. This indicates this man was a
pagan. Tobiah was a citizen of Ammon, which was the country that we now
call Jordan (whose capital, by the way, is named Amman). Ammon was one of
the tribes descended from Lot, the nephew of Abraham, and thus related to
Israel but always an enemy of Israel. This records the first appearance
in this book of the enemies of Nehemiah.
This situation sounds very much like normal Christianity. I have always
enjoyed the definition of a Christian that says he is one who is
"completely fearless, continually cheerful, and constantly in trouble!"
It is often God’s way to let us face troublesome difficulties. But he
also has unknown provisions waiting for us, as we will see in Nehemiah’s
case.
Jim Strauss told of once sitting at lunch with Cameron Townsend, the
founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators, and hearing from his own lips the
story of how Wycliffe came into Mexico. This was back in the ’20’s at a
time when Mexico was very sensitive to anything religious. They had just
thrown off the shackles of the church, and they were very opposed to
public preaching or the building up of churches. Cameron Townsend went to
a tiny Indian village up in the mountains and began to work there,
translating the Scriptures into their language. Although he could do no
preaching, he found that he could help the people. Their economy was
suffering because they had poor crops, and he taught them how to dam up a
stream and divert the water to their fields. This greatly increased the
amount of crops they raised and soon their economy was at a higher level.
He also taught them certain industries they could establish right there
in the village.
Soon word of the changes there got back to Lazaro Cardenas who had just
been elected president of Mexico. He had a great heart of concern to help
the Indians. One day the President drove out in his limousine to the
Indian village, and, when Cameron Townsend saw the presidential
limousine, he went up to it to greet the President and introduce himself.
The president said, "You’re the very man I came to see." He invited
Townsend to come to the capital and they became close friends for the
duration of Cardenes’ presidency. He opened a wide door to the entire
work of Wycliffe Translators, and later presidents continued that
support. Thus in a most unexpected way Wycliffe found an open door for
widespread labors through that incident.
In many wonderful ways God demonstrates that he can work in our lives!
This is what Nehemiah relied upon. If you are struggling with some habit,
some attitude of mind or heart that has possessed you, limited you, and
made you difficult to live with, and you want to be free from it, you can
expect God to help, often in ways that you cannot anticipate. That is the
lesson of this great story.
Having seized the critical moment and entered the open door that God set
before him, Nehemiah now takes the third step to recovery: He honestly
faces the full reality of his problem.
First, we are told that he enjoyed a brief period of recovery.
I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days I set out during
the night with a few men. {Neh 2:11-12a NIV}
He takes time to recover from his journey (his jet lag), and then begins
to examine, individually and personally, the extent of the problem he
faces.
I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for
Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on.
By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and
the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken
down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. Then I moved on
toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool [the pool of Siloam], but
there was not enough room for my mount to get through; so I went up the
valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered
through the Valley Gate. The officials did not know where I had gone or
what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the
priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work.
{Neh 2:12b-16 NIV}
Anticipating opposition, Nehemiah kept his own counsel. He did not tell
anybody what he was going to do until he had seen for himself what needed
to be done. Apparently the walls were in such a state of ruin that rubble
and debris had strewn the valley floor so that he could not even ride his
mount through it. He found during this moonlight ride that the walls were
in a very sad state of repair.
It is most important that we do something like this in recovering our own
ruined areas. We must face the facts as they are, name them, and
acknowledge to ourselves and others that they are true. We must not try
to cover them over or in any way excuse them. If you are acquainted with
the work of Alcoholics Anonymous you know that they require that everyone
they work with must publicly acknowledge their problem to be alcohol
addiction. They must state it clearly, "I am an alcoholic." If they are
not willing to do this, there is little hope for their recovery.
So Nehemiah personally explores the extent of his problem, and then, as
the account records, informs the ones who must do the work with him. This
is a moment of challenge when Nehemiah begins to involve others in this
work.
Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in
ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the
wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace." I also told
them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said
to me. They replied, "Let us start rebuilding." So they began this good
work. {Neh 2:17-18 NIV}
This is a wonderful example of good leadership. He cannot do this work
alone. He must involve others. First, he appeals to their pride, "You can
see the ruin around you," he points out. Actually the ruins had been
there for almost one hundred years. He is saying, in effect, "That is
long enough. It is disgraceful that nothing has been done until now. Let
us begin to act." He puts it to them plainly that now is the time
because, as he suggests, "God is with us." God had already helped them.
He had moved the heart of the king, setting up the possibility of repair.
Now was the time to act.
When leadership steps out like that, it is almost certain to find a
following. Nehemiah galvanizes the Jews to action, to begin the process
of rebuilding. He appeals to their sense of self-respect, and supplies an
encouraging motive to begin.
But, when you actually start recovering your ruin, you will also meet
severe resistance, as Nehemiah discovers.
But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem
the Arab [here is a third enemy coming in now] heard about it, they
mocked and ridiculed us. "What is this you are doing?" they asked. "Are
you rebelling against the king?" {Neh 2:19 NIV}
Whenever anybody says, "I will arise and build," Satan always replies,
"Then I will arise and oppose." You can count on it! It is a necessary
part of the process. God allows it for it is good for us to have
opposition.
Right after this meeting many of you are going to go home and watch the
Packers and the Broncos struggle valiantly in San Diego. It will be a
difficult game. Regardless of which team wins, one thing is certain: the
game would be meaningless if the teams did not have someone to oppose
them. Any member of either team could grab the football and run down and
place it over the goal line if there was nobody there to oppose. It is
the opposition that makes the players dig in and fight through.
That is what God is after in our lives. It is opposition that makes us
strong. If we did not have any difficulty we would be moral cream puffs,
unable to function in the kingdom of God. So in his wisdom and grace God
allows opposition to rise. Notice the way Nehemiah handles this.
I answered them by saying, "The God of heaven will give us success. We
his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in
Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it." {Neh 2:20 NIV}
These men stood outside the covenant of promise. One was a pagan,
Sanballat the Horonite; one was a renegade son of Lot, an enemy though
also a relative of Israel; and one was a total foreigner, a descendant of
Ishmael. All three had no claim to the promise of God to inherit the
land. That is why Nehemiah took this stand.
The form their opposition took is also prophetic of our struggles. They
first "mocked and ridiculed." This is usually the first weapon the enemy
employs. You may have felt it when you began to recover from your ruin.
Your friends laughed at your desires to change. They may ridicule your
religious convictions and resent with scorn your implied criticisms of
their conduct.
Also, Nehemiah’s enemies began to threaten and slander him with charges
of rebellion and disloyalty. If ridicule does not work, then the
opposition stiffens and becomes openly unfriendly and threatening. It is
the next level of resistance which those who seek to rebuild will
encounter.
These are but pictures for us. They picture something very real: the
opposition and the resistance that we will experience from Satan himself.
What was true of these opposing forces in Nehemiah’s case is true also of
Satan. He is a usurper. He has no right to possess humankind. He has
tricked us. He has bedeviled us and led us astray. He has confused,
manipulated and misled us. Yet he has no right to do so. Jesus came to
restore God’s property to him and to loose the hold of the devil upon the
human race. That is what he does in our lives. So when we face resistance
we must see it as allowed of God to strengthen us, but it has no real
right to our lives. We do not have to be weak, failing, and unable to
function. We are called to be free. That is the glorious note which the
epistle to the Galatians states: "it is for freedom that Christ has set
us free!" {Gal 5:1a NIV}. What that means in practice is that we do not
need to be bound by habits from the past. No matter how innocently they
may have begun we do not need to be slaves to drugs, sex, alcohol,
tobacco, or whatever it may be controlling and limiting us. Remember
Paul’s great cry, "I will not be brought under the power of anything!"
{cf, 1 Cor 6:12}. Why? Because he was under the power of God. This is
what Nehemiah declares here. There is no necessity to be a slave to a hot
temper, or a critical, censorious attitude, or a complaining spirit.
These areas of ruin in our lives can be set aside because we are trusting
in the program of God. We are expecting God to grant us the grace to
stand.
That is why, with great determination, Nehemiah clenches his fist and
says, "Look, the God of heaven is with us. He will give us success. We,
his servants, will start rebuilding. Do what you like. It is not going to
stop us. You are usurpers and have no right to this land."
INVITATION
