Revival In Remnant Times - Nehemiah

by R. Armstrong, London, Ontario | Category: Great Spiritual Revivals | Dec 1981

One of the great revivals in the long and fateful history of Israel began when Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem from Persia, on leave from his position as cup bearer to Artaxerxes the king. According to one chronology, he came 91 years after the first expedition under Zerubbabel in 536 B.C. and 70 years after the temple was completed. It seems hard to believe that more than two generations after the temple foundation was laid the walls of Jerusalem were in ruins.

The Man

Nehemiah, whose name means, "the Lord consoles", came out of a most unlikely place, the royal court of Persia, to cross 700 miles of desert, and in 52 days completed the task of rebuilding the walls. Two months earlier, if the Jerusalem news media had told the people the wall of the city would be up in less than 60 days, they would have said, Impossible! Someone has said, "we have lost the eternal youthfulness of Christianity, and have aged into calculating manhood. We seldom pray in earnest for the extraordinary, the limitless, the glorious. We seldom pray with any confidence for any good to the realization of which we cannot find a way. And yet we suppose ourselves to believe in an Infinite Father". Do we dare to ask of God the things which to men are impossible? "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" (Gen. 18:14).

"Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees

And looks to God alone,

Laughs at impossibilities,

And cries, "It shall be done".

Nehemiah moved along the path of unwavering faith in the power of God, and however and wherever he got his early training, he was God's man for the seemingly impossible. From the chronology we have followed, Nehemiah must have been born either in Babylon or Persia. Of his background we know but little. His occupation was in the royal court of Persia. He was the son of Hachaliah, and it is very unlikely that he had ever seen Jerusalem or the former temple. We conclude this because of Nehemiah's late arrival in the city. However, Psalm 87 tells of those born in Babylon as being in affectionate remembrance by the Lord. "I will make mention of... Babylon

The Lord shall count, when He writeth up the peoples, this one was born there". We can picture Nehemiah in his off-duty hours poring over the word of God through Moses' writings, while in his heart grew a love for his God, and the place where He had put His Name.

Cupbearers in Eastern courts were said to be men of high calibre who held positions of influence. God had His man, learning in His school while he served a Persian monarch. He was a statesman and reformer of exceptional character and ability, God's man for the hour. Revival was born in tears, in night watches on his knees away in that foreign land. God's house and Jerusalem were written on his heart, and when he heard the news of the broken walls and gates, he "wept, and mourned certain days; and... fasted and prayed before the God of heaven" (Neh. 1:2-4). The flesh could reason, Why should I forsake the luxury of the world's greatest empire, and travel the desert to identify with a broken down city, and a remnant of despised people who don't care if the wall is up or down?

Elements of Revival

Nehemiah's concern was not only for the rebuilding of the wall and repairing the gates to beautify the city, but for the greater vision of restoring the glory of the divine institutions God had given His people for their preservation and separation. He knew it was a crucial moment of their history, and that God was also watching over His Messianic promise in Judah's royal line, latent in the favoured tribe. He knew the high destiny of Judah who carried the holy seed of their Messiah across dark and troubled years until the ancient prophecy be fulfilled. "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between His feet, until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the obedience of the peoples be" (Gen. 49:10).

Nehemiah went straight to the basic cause of Judah's problem and identified himself with it. "We have dealt very corruptly against Thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgements" (Neh. 1:7). "Very corruptly" - strong words! In his deep perception of the problem he knew this cancer had to be cut out, to save the nation. In earlier years Isaiah had put his finger on a similar problem and a social evil in the nation. "Behold, in the day of your fast ye find your own pleasure, and oppress all your labourers (RVM)... ye fast... to smite with the fist of wickedness... Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke?" (Isa. 58:3-6). In his later reforms Nehemiah deals with this very problem. It was the extortion that wealthy Jews were guilty of toward their poor brethren, who were forced to mortgage their lands and houses to buy corn. When they could not repay, the lenders foreclosed on the mortgages and took their lands for payment. Chapter 5 records the quick incisive action of Nehemiah to remedy the problem.

Three days after Nehemiah's arrival in Jerusalem he toured the wall by night. "I arose in the night, I and some few men with me: neither told I any man what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem ... and the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did" (Neh. 2:12-16). Some could easily label this as independence. Even Ezra does not appear to have been consulted. This man had never been in Jerusalem before. What authority did he have? The utter neglect he witnessed was appalling to a man who knew what the wall represented in terms of God's purpose in separation. In such irregular times God planted His reformer in the middle of the problem with credentials no one could argue with. His message was incisive and challenging. "Ye see the evil case that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates... burned... come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. And I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me" (Neh. 2:17-18).

It was a rude awakening, and whether or not his hearers liked the man or his methods, he was a leader and his word had power. It has been said that a good leader is one who gets people to do things they don't like, and to enjoy doing them.

Objectives

As soon as the sound of the workmen was heard on the wall, Satan had his activists mocking and threatening to stop the work. When there is no life or movement for God there is no conflict with Satan. He rarely attacks a worldly Christian or a dead church, but any signs of life are signals for him to move in and destroy. Nehemiah had the courage to talk back to the enemies of God, and in so doing he talked back to the Devil who was behind men like Sanballat the Horonite. He knew that it was only in God he was any match for Satan. We need to learn that lesson too.

Nehemiah delegated responsibility to skilled men and saw ten gates repaired (Chap. 3) each with its own name and importance to the life of the city, both for cleansing and service. He knew the entrances and exits needed protection to keep the city and the house of God. In 52 days of glorious victory the wall was built in the face of strong opposition from Satan. Never had they worked so hard, or such long hours in the dual role of workman warrior. Never had people, rulers and priests been so happy, for the joy of the Lord was their strength.

Nehemiah was out for perfection in God's building plan, and experienced Satan's opposition. He must have felt in raw contact with the adversary. Living close to the Lord and striving for perfection in His word and work doesn't make a man popular. I have heard Christians say "his standards are too high". God's standards are always high, and never accommodate to human opinion. Nehemiah was a clear thinker in a day of religious confusion. He saw things as God saw them. His conflicts were the Lord's conflicts, lived through His people. He met Satan head on in open conflict and triumphed over him.

Centuries later Peter wrote, "your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Pet. 5:8). Someone has written that "it is a delightful thing to get close enough to the adversary to hear him roar... too many Christians never get into lion country". Rev. 12:10,11 tells of Satan the accuser of the brethren hurling accusations before God day and night about Christians. How were these accusations handled? "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death" (AV). James 4:7 also gives us the Holy Spirit's resource for close range attacks by Satan. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you".

As a restorer, reformer and revivalist Nehemiah led the people back to God. This is of prime importance in revival. His reforms included the ministry of Ezra bringing the word of God which made the people weep tears of repentance. Nehemiah corrected social evils in the nation. Usury (Chap. 5), sabbath merchandising and mixed marriages (Chap. 13) all came under the scrutiny of the reformer and were corrected. One thing runs through this man's ministry: he knew the spirit of the word of God, and the people felt its power. Paul wrote, "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life". Nehemiah knew such a revolution in his life for the glory and honour of God, and such denial of all self interests that if he had lived in Paul's day, he too could have said, "I am crucified with Christ".

The revivalists and reformers of Israel's fateful days were the prophets who knew God as a consuming fire, and yet a God of infinite compassion. They fell on their faces in holy awe in the presence of His glory and power. They saw their own base sinfulness, and led the nation in repentance and confession of sin. True revival may be summed up in a few words; hunger for God, an awareness of the presence and glory of God in our own lives. Assemblies will not be touched with the power of the Spirit of God until our lives have been touched in the secret place.

Malachi's message struck deep at the root of the remnant's failure, and is as much for God's people today as it was then. "Ye have turned aside... return unto Me, and I will return unto you saith the LORD of hosts... Will a man rob God? yet ye rob Me... Bring ye the whole tithe into the storehouse ... and prove Me now... if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Mal. 3:7-10).

R. Armstrong, London, Ontario | Dec 1981
Great Spiritual Revivals