In our text today, Nehemiah uses a historical rediscovery to encourage our fathers to rise to the occasion and complete the task of making Jerusalem glorious. For while the walls of the city were rebuilt, the city itself was largely empty. And what good is a city with walls that is empty of inhabitants?

For the last several weeks we have witnessed different methods which Satan, the great enemy of God’s purposes on earth, has used to try and destroy God’s work through Nehemiah. His methods have included both external attacks and internal dissension. Today we find Satan and his cohorts setting their sights on Nehemiah himself. Perhaps if we destroy him then we will be able to destroy this work. But Nehemiah, by the grace of God, entrusts himself to God and is delivered from their hands – managing to complete the labor of rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls in the midst of these plots and machinations.

Today we learn that not all threats to the work of God come from outside the covenant community. Sometimes these threats come from inside. It seems that the sheep are at risk not only from wolves but from the more clever sheep in the flock. In particular, the rich have been abusing the poor.

Once again Nehemiah proves himself a model of godly leadership. He does not simply brush the problem aside. He does not choose to ignore the problem nor does he tell those who are suffering unjustly – just deal with it for the sake of the bigger cause. Rather he exhorts those who are practicing injustice and convinces the members of the community to love one another. As we consider his conduct, may we be encouraged to love one another and eradicate the self-centeredness that so often undermines genuine community. Only in this way will we be able to build Jerusalem here in our midst.

In our day and age, many Christians have bought into the lie that if we are facing opposition, we must be doing something wrong. Hence, it is easy to give way to fear. When others mock or scorn us, we can be induced – through fear – to abandon a laudable project. And particularly when opposition moves beyond verbal insult to physical threatening, we can frequently be moved through fear to desert our designs. Solomon declares in Proverbs 29:25: “The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.” It is this temptation to be ensnared by fear that we find our fathers facing in our text today. Nehemiah’s response to this temptation will equip us to deal with our own fears, to be men and women who are not caught in the snare of fear but who are empowered with courage by the grace of God.

It is the danger that arises from those who oppose God that emerges from our text today. When we serve God and determine to glorify Him, determine to do what He wants us to do and proclaim His Lordship over all of life, all of society, then we’re going to face opposition from those who do not want to honor him. They are going to start shooting at us. Things will get dangerous. And when those in opposition have influence and numbers, that opposition will frequently be menacing and threatening; when they have absolute power, that opposition can even be deadly.

Today in our text we find Nehemiah using a shrewd tactic in the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls. He secures the aid of all the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do their part removing the reproach of Jerusalem and making her glorious. They work side by side, shoulder to shoulder, standing next to one another with each repairing a specific section of the wall, a section of the wall nearest to their heart. In so doing, Nehemiah teaches us an important lesson. Our calling as the people of God, building Jerusalem – Mt. Zion – here in Coeur d’Alene, is to labor side by side, each doing our work to make the bride of Christ more lovely. We cannot all do everything, but if each of us does our part, executes faithfully the charge that is put in front of us, then we shall be assured of victory. You see, it is Christ, the Greater Nehemiah, who has put us in our position; Christ who has given us our particular gifts and abilities; Christ who empowers us by His Spirit to serve Him where He has put us; Christ who calls us to rise to the occasion. Our calling, in Him, is to stand fast, to labor side by side, to stand next to one another and so rebuild the walls of Jerusalem – making her a glory and removing her reproach.

As we consider the sad state of the Western Church – for the most part we are shallow and, when we are not, we are often unattractive – it is good to be reminded why we return to the Word of God each week, why we sit before it and listen. The purpose is that we be substantive, mature, growing in wisdom; simultaneously, that we be hungry, passionate, eager to know the Lord and to serve Him with wonder and delight. Today we read about Nehemiah’s charge to the Jews of his day to join with him in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. As we read this and apply it, my hope is that as we pray for God to pour out His Spirit and bless His Church, to send revival and reformation, that we would burn for a long time because there is substance to burn.

Last week we unfolded the meaning of covenantal living. To live life covenantally rather than individually means to identify with and pray for those with whom we are in covenant. For Nehemiah, this covenantal mentality manifest itself in a radical identification with the people of Israel. They were his people. He found his joy in the exaltation and greatness of Israel. So too, we discovered, we are to be covenantally minded. We are to identify with and pray for the people of God – for the Church.

By the Spirit of God we have all been united together as one body, one people; not only we who are here in this local congregation but together with all those who confess the Triune Name throughout the world, having been baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are Christians, confessing Christ and living as His representatives in the world. And what this means is that we have a kinship together, a kinship more fundamental than any other kinship. Before ties of family; before ties of ethnicity; before ties of nationality come the ties that join us together by faith in the Son of God who gave Himself for us that He might bring us to Himself and unite us with one another. Before I am a Bryan, I am a Christian; before I am of Scots-Irish descent, I am a Christian; before I am an Idahoan, I am a Christian; before I am an American, I am a Christian. Consequently, the struggles, hardships, and joys of Christians throughout the world and of my Christian brethren here are my struggles, my hardships, my joys. And it is this that Nehemiah’s response to the news from Jerusalem teaches us. What does it mean to be part of the people of God? What does it mean to live in covenant? It means to identify with and pray for these people who are my people.