Scripture: Matthew 16:15-18 & John 2:17-22
CUPBEARER
Nehemiah 2:1a
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.
Matthew 26:37-39
He took Peter and
the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and
troubled. 38 Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.
Stay here and keep watch with me." 39 Going a little farther, he
fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My
Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will,
but as you will."
Nehemiah 2:1b-2
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."
HUMILITY
Nehemiah 2:4-6
The king said to me, "What is it you want?"
Then I prayed to the God of
heaven, 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.
Philippians 2:5-8
Christ Jesus: Who,
being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be
grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being
made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!
Nehemiah
was willing to leave his fantastic position at the right hand of the King to go
help the Israelites rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, not even knowing if they
would be willing to rebuild.
Jesus
was willing to leave his fantastic position at the right hand of the THE King
to go help humanity rebuild the walls of their lives for eternity, KNOWING that
many would not be willing to rebuild.
WEEPING FOR
GOD’S PEOPLE
Nehemiah 1:3-5
They said to Nehemiah, "Those who
survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and
disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned
with fire." When I heard these things, I sat down and wept.
For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
Luke 19:41-43
As Jesus approached Jerusalem
and saw the city, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring
you peace — but now it is hidden from your eyes.
ENEMY MOCK,
ATTACK and DEFENSE
Nehemiah 4:1-3
When Sanballat heard that we
were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He
ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates and the army of
Samaria, he said, "What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their
wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the
stones back to life from those heaps of rubble — burned as they are?"
Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, "What they are building — if even a
fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!"
Nehemiah 4:16-18
From that day on, half of my
men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows
and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who
were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one
hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at
his side as he worked.
Luke 23:10-11
The chief priests and the
teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing Jesus. Then Herod
and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him.
Ephesians 6:12-13
For our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God.
Romans
8:35-39
Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or
nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face
death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all
these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am
convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the
present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything
else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Re-establishment of the covenant
Nehemiah 8:1-9
And all the people
gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they
asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had
given to Israel. Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of
men, women, and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of
the seventh month. And he read from it before the square which was in front of
the Water Gate from early morning until midday… Then Nehemiah, who was the
governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people
said to all 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.
Before going back to the king, Nehemiah, along with Ezra,
re-established the truth of God’s word and set the priesthood up again so that
all would be done according to God's covenant for the good of God’s people.
Before going back to the Father, Jesus established the church
and the truth of the new covenant-his blood shed for the forgiveness of sins,
for the good of God’s people and His eternal kingdom. Acts 1:3
‘To these He also presented
Himself alive, after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to
them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the
kingdom of God.’
What
do you especially love about the books of Ezra and Nehemiah from Exalting Jesus in Ezra and
Nehemiah?
That in his weeping over the sin of the people (Ezra 10:1), Ezra
anticipates the one who would weep over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41).
That in his cleansing of the temple (Neh. 13:8–9),
Nehemiah anticipates the one who would do that too (Mark 11:15–19).
I love that
Nehemiah is a man of prayer saturated in Scripture, that his inspiring call,
“Come, let us build the wall!,” results in the people strengthening “their
hands for the good work” (Neh. 2:17–18). I
love the way he labors with sword and trowel, not stopping for a change of
clothes (4:17–23); the way he stands fast against Sanballat and Tobiah; and the
way he so clearly loves God and God's purposes more than his own life.
Nehemiah is not only a ‘type’ of Christ that points to
Jesus. He was key in seeing that the messiah could even be born.
Ezra says in 9:2 “the holy race [lit. seed] has mixed
itself with the peoples of the lands.” The preservation of the purity of
the seed matters because the Messiah matters. These people
have kept genealogies to trace the line of descent from the couple who heard
God's words about the seed of the woman who would bruise the serpent's head way
back in Genesis 3:15.
That line has come down through Abraham, Judah, and David, and if the people
intermarry with idolaters the line of descent is endangered. If the line of
descent fails, the Messiah will not come, the world will not be saved, and
there will never be a Mary and Joseph and therfore Christmas.
The same dynamic is at work in Nehemiah's concern for the
building of the wall. If they can stand against enemies and live in accordance
with Torah, they can preserve the line of descent that flows down from David to
Jesus.
John 2:17-22
His
disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me." Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your
authority to do all this?" Jesus answered
them, "Destroy this temple, and I will
raise it again in three days." The Jews
replied, "It has taken forty-six years
to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After
he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they
believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
JESUS SAID, I WILL
BUILD MY CHURCH…
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