Nehemiah 1:1

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, "The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire." (Nehemiah 1:1–3)

How should the people of God respond when their world lies in ruin? Nehemiah shows us where every great work of God begins.

Returning to the Old Testament Through Nehemiah

For most of the last two years, our studies have been in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. We've taken detours along the way—most recently a month in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 6, and 7—but each time we've returned to Deuteronomy and worked our way slowly up to chapter 16. This summer we take another detour, into the Old Testament book of Nehemiah.

When we began our study in Deuteronomy back in January of 2020—which now feels like a lifetime ago—I shared with the church that Deuteronomy is something of a primer to everything in the Old Testament following the Torah. The Torah, also called the Pentateuch, is the first five books of the Bible, and Deuteronomy is the last of them. Everything that follows reaches back to the teaching of Moses in Deuteronomy.

The historic books—Joshua, Judges, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles—play upon the teachings of Moses found in Deuteronomy. And the prophets—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the minor prophets—preach to the people of their day using the teaching of Deuteronomy. All of the Old Testament dealing with Israel's life in the land, their exile from it, and their return to it falls under what scholars call the Deuteronomic literature.

The Deuteronomic Principle

What is the Deuteronomic principle? It's quite simple: a conditional framework of blessing. I've described it before as God's algorithm for blessing—the if-this-then-that of how God deals with His people. If Israel is faithful to God and obeys His commandments, they reap long life and blessing in the promised land. But if Israel is unfaithful and disobedient, they experience the curses of disobedience.

This is summed up at the end of Moses' teaching in Deuteronomy 28:

Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you... Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country... The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face.

But Moses continues at verse 15:

But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God... that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country... The LORD will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me.

How the Pattern Plays Out

Throughout the historic books we watch this pattern unfold. For a time Israel is faithful—especially when they have good and godly leaders. Then, after those leaders are gone, the people drift, spiral into idolatry, and come under bondage to their enemies. When they're faithful, the nation flourishes; when they're unfaithful, they slide toward defeat and bondage.

This is where the prophets come in. As Israel slides downward, the prophets show up to call the people and their leaders back to faith and faithfulness. They use Deuteronomy as their playbook. In many ways the prophets were experts in Deuteronomy who looked at the sinful conditions of their day and prophesied what was going to happen, especially based on Deuteronomy 28. Deuteronomy is the key to understanding the Old Testament.

Last summer we detoured from Deuteronomy to study Esther, which seemed to me and the other pastors like just the right book for just the right time. This summer we detour again to study Nehemiah—a book close to Esther both in the Bible and on the historical timeline—because for the season we are in as a church, as the Church in the West, and as people in this nation, Nehemiah is just the right book for such a time as this.

Moses' Warning and Promise

It's hard to jump into Nehemiah without context, so let's build some. Go back to Deuteronomy 4, where Moses begins his message to Israel as they prepare to enter the land:

Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you.

Skipping to verse 23:

Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God... For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image... you will soon utterly perish from the land... And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples... But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul... for the LORD your God is a merciful God, He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers.

The pattern is direct and clear. Follow the Lord and be blessed; turn away and be exiled to serve false gods until you cry out to Him. Moses closes the same way in Deuteronomy 30:

See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil... I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.

Drifting From the Beginning

What happened? In Joshua, the people cross the Jordan by a miracle and begin to conquer and find rest in the land. And nearly as soon as they have rest, they begin to drift back toward idolatry—the default in each of us. Even while godly Joshua was still alive, he had to gather them and warn them:

Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth... choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

The people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD," and twice more affirmed, "The LORD our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey." But how did they do? The book of Judges follows, and once Joshua and Caleb are gone we read these sad words:

When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals... and they provoked the LORD to anger.

From Judges to a Divided Kingdom

That verse begins a storyline that continues for nearly a thousand years. During the judges, Israel served God only when godly judges rose up—Barak, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Samson, and finally Samuel. When Samuel's sons proved to be poor leaders, the people demanded a king, thinking it would help them live better.

Saul didn't work out well. Under David, and for a time under Solomon, things seemed better—peace, prosperity, and a newly built temple. It was nearly the best of times. But Solomon also introduced much idolatry, and after his death his son Rehoboam came to the throne. In Rehoboam's case the apple fell about as far from the tree as it could—wisdom did not pass down genetically. His foolishness split the nation into two kingdoms: the northern kingdom, called Israel or Ephraim, and the southern kingdom of Judah, which held Jerusalem and the temple.

Exile and a Promised Deliverer

The northern kingdom never had a good king; all were horrible idolaters who led the people deeply astray. Judah did slightly better but remained carnal. This was the great time of the prophets like Isaiah. And just as God promised in Deuteronomy 28, the consequences came. In about 722 BC the northern tribes were defeated and removed by the Assyrians. Then, beginning in 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jerusalem persistently, until in 586 BC he destroyed the temple and Judah was exiled in Babylon for nearly seventy years.

There they had idolatry to their full, and in their oppression they cried out:

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. (Psalm 137:1)

Remember Deuteronomy 4: "from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him." God in His grace would deliver them by an unlikely method that He had already prophesied. In Isaiah 40 through 45, nearly 200 years beforehand, God named the deliverer—Cyrus, a Persian king from the east.

In 539 BC, Cyrus of Persia defeated Babylon at the battle of Opis and took over the empire. I have a feeling that there was an old man in the palace named Daniel who came to Cyrus and showed him the ancient writings of Jeremiah and Isaiah, where the prophet had named him 200 years earlier. And so we read:

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom... "Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him! Now let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel."

Rebuilding—and Sixty Years of Languishing

Two years later, in 537 BC, Ezra led the first wave of refugees back, and by about 535 BC they laid the foundation of the new temple. It wasn't like the former temple, and those who remembered the old glory wept. Almost immediately Israel's enemies opposed the work, and by the decree of a king named Ahasuerus the building stopped for fifteen years.

Then King Darius came along around 520 BC. When the people asked him to search the records of Cyrus, he confirmed the decree and the work resumed. In only four years it was finished:

So the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah... Then the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites and the rest of the descendants of the captivity, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.

It wasn't the best of times, but it wasn't the worst either—and there it stayed for nearly sixty years. The temple stood, but the city remained in ruins from Nebuchadnezzar's destruction. The walls were broken down, the city languished. In 458 BC Ezra returned to Babylon and called the people to return; a second wave came back with a heart to rebuild. But still the city languished for another fourteen years.

Arriving at Nehemiah's Distress

That brings us to the end of 444 BC, to Nehemiah chapter 1:

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah... I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped... and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, "The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire."

That was a long path to reach Nehemiah 1, but it's important preface. Nehemiah is in Shushan, the capital of the Medo-Persian Empire, when family members report that they've been trying to rebuild Jerusalem for a decade and a half without success. The walls are broken, the gates burned, the people in great distress. And this fills Nehemiah with grief.

Why does all of this matter? Because we, too, are living in distressing times. The story of Nehemiah gives us insight into how the people of God ought to respond when things are run down, in ruin, and the people of God are divided and scattered. At this point Israel was not united—many stayed in Babylon and Persia and never returned. In a situation of ruin, chaos, disaster, and division, how shall we then live?

For Such a Time as This

Notice that Nehemiah is in the same city where Esther sat as queen thirty years before this point—indeed, in the same citadel in Shushan. If it had not been for Esther and her cousin Mordecai, Nehemiah might never have been born or come of age. Because God worked through Esther, now thirty years later Nehemiah is set up for such a time as this.

The question presses: how do you respond when confronted with distress, reproach, and ruin in your nation and among your people? Many Christians have been wrestling with that for the last two and a half years. I happened to teach Nehemiah 1 at a Scandinavian church leaders' camp in Sweden on July 25th, 2018. Looking back at my notes this week, I had said: these certainly are not the worst of times—there is no imminent war, no apparent disaster, no looming famine. We have it pretty good. But is it really the best of times?

Four years later, much has changed. For those in Scandinavia, war with Russia is on their doorstep; Finland and Sweden are petitioning for NATO entrance even as I give this message. We are coming out of more than two years of global pandemic; the economy is in shambles and teetering toward recession; there are potential food shortages coming in the fall. And the Church throughout the world, especially in the West, is in some ways like the temple in Ezra's day—a shell of its former glory, surrounded by ruin, exposed with little defense. After the pandemic only about two-thirds of those who attended before have returned—much as only a third of the children of Israel had returned from exile. It sounds a great deal like the day we are living in.

Nehemiah's Response

How does someone respond to all of this? Nehemiah's response in chapter 1 is instructive:

So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said: "I pray, LORD God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments... I confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father's house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments... Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them... yet I will gather them from there...' O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant... and let Your servant prosper this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man." For I was the king's cupbearer.

This is so important: every great work of God for His kingdom always begins this way. Nehemiah stopped. He sat down. He wept and mourned for many days. He fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. He confessed the sin of his people—but as his own sin. He repented, he lamented, he remembered the words of Moses from Deuteronomy 4. And then he recognized that he might be just the right person, in just the right place, for just the right time: "grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer."

Where the Real Work Begins

Many Christians in our culture are trying to figure out how best to respond to the chaos and ruin of our times. There are all kinds of ideas about what policies to push and what politicians we need to fix the woes of our nation and the world. I'm sure there are good ideas, and many people working hard. But it is crucial that we consider Nehemiah's response.

Do not miss this. There was a ton of work to be done in Jerusalem—a city in turmoil and ruin, no walls, countless problems needing practical solutions. But none of it would be truly addressable without the mighty hand of God. For nearly a hundred years people had labored to rebuild Jerusalem without success. You could pour in all the workers and all the money you could find—they had been doing exactly that for a century—and it still would not work.

So how did Nehemiah deal with it? He stopped. He sat down. He wept and mourned for many days. He fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, and he confessed the sin of his people as his own. And then what happened? You'll have to come back next time, because we have no time today for chapter 2—that's where we go next week.

These are important words for such a time as this. You look at the world around you and you are distressed, just as Nehemiah was. Maybe you have a whole bunch of ideas—if they only did this, if they only fixed that. But first and foremost, the most important thing we as the people of God can do is to stop and confess and pray and fast and ask God to move—and to recognize that, like Nehemiah, you might be specially placed by the Lord for such a time as this. We need to stop, pray, and seek the God of heaven to work mightily.

Closing Prayer

Father God, I pray that You would speak these things to our hearts, that we would remember them and hold on to them, and that You would help us throughout this week to do what Nehemiah did—to stop, to pray, perhaps even to fast, and to set aside time to focus our attention upon You. All the issues we see in this world are not fixable without You and Your mighty hand. So God, would You work in and through Your people just as You did through Nehemiah 2,400 years ago. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.