Let us turn to God's words in
that portion that we read Nehemiah the book of Nehemiah chapter
8 and I'll read again from verse 1 and all the people gathered themselves
together as one man into the street that was before the water
gate and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book
of the Lord of Moses which the Lord had commanded to Israel.
And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation,
both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding,
upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before
the street that was before the water gates, from the morning
until midday, before the men and the women and those who could
understand. And the ears of all the people
were attentive unto the book of the law. And there shall the
scribes stood upon a pulpit of wood which they had made for
the purpose. And then turning to verse 8,
so they read in the book, in the law of God distinctly, and
gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. And it's this portion that I
want us to consider with the Lord's help for a little while
this evening here in my eight first three verses in the first
part of verse four and then what we have in that eighth verse.
So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave
the sense and caused them to understand the reading it's a
record of course of the solemn reading of God's holy word but
not just the reading but also the expounding, the explaining
of that word of God and we see something of the necessity of
the people to hear what God has spoken in his holy book. And so tonight I want to say
something really with regards to the reading, the preaching,
and the hearing of the words. The reading, the preaching, and
the hearing of the words. And we might say that these are
the principal means of grace. When Paul gives instruction and
exhortation to Timothy he reminds him of what his responsibilities
are in his public ministry those two epistles to Timothy and that
Titus we refer to them as pastoral epistles these young men were
those who assisted the apostle in all his own ministry and he's
giving them certain directions and there in 1 Timothy 4.13 He
speaks of the sort of ministry that Timothy is to exercise in
the public place. And we find this expression.
He says to young Timothy, give attendance to reading, to exhortation,
to doctrine. Give attendance to reading, that
is the public reading, to exhortation, exhortation would of course be
in the public place and through doctrine or the word literally
means teaching and so we see that there is a place for the
public reading of God's words as well as the preaching and
the proclaiming of it and there is certainly a need that we be
those who are hearing the words And this is the purpose of what
is taking place here in this particular part of Holy Scripture,
this 8th chapter in the book of Nehemiah. And it's all again
there at verse 8, So they read in the book in the law of God
distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand
the reading. First of all to say something
with regards to the reading and the preaching. And it's Old Testament
Scriptures and we have to remember that there's a significance here
with regards to the circumstances, the time that this is taking
place. And we also remember that there
is much that is typical with regards to the events that we're
reading in the Old Testament. These things were written for
our learning says Paul that we through patience and comfort
of the scriptures might have hope. There in Romans 15 he reminds
us why these things were written for our learning, for our instruction. And so as we think about what
we're told in this particular chapter I want to say something
with regards to the time when these things were occurring.
because we are told, aren't we, quite explicitly, when it happened. The end of verse 2, it was upon
the first day of the seventh month. Upon the first day of
the seventh month, that was the month Tisri. Now, the previous
month, the sixth month, was that month in which they had actually
finished the rebuilding of the walls. The purpose of Nehemiah
being there at Jerusalem, this is after the restoration from
the Babylonian captivity. Ezra had first gone, there'd
been the rebuilding of the of the temple of the Lord but matters
have progressed very slowly and there was the emir in Shushan
you know the opening chapters of the book and he hears of the
sad condition of those who had returned after the captivity
and Jerusalem is still in ruins and he obtains permission from
Artaxerxes to go to go and commence the rebuilding of the
walls of Jerusalem. And in spite of opposition, the
work is put in hand and the work is completed. And we're told
there in verse 15 of chapter 6, so the wall was finished in
the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul in fifty and two days. Elul was the sixth month. and it was the 25th day of that
month, and now it's the 7th month, the month Tisri, and it's the
first day of the month. Now, the month is a very significant
month, the 7th month. It was the great festal month
in Israel. There were a number of feasts
that they were to celebrate at that time, and you can read of
them there in Leviticus 23, there was the Feast of Trumpets which
was to take place on the first day of the 7th month. There was also the Great Day
of Atonement which would take place on the 10th day of that
same month and then there was the Feast of Tabernacles that
was to take place also on the 15th day of that month and of
course in this in this chapter we have mention of them discovering
the need to to celebrate the feast of tabernacles verse 14
they found written in the law which the Lord had commanded
by Moses that the children of Ishaar should dwell in booths
in the feast of the seventh month and so they go out and they gather
the necessary branches and so forth they make themselves booths
and the congregation therein in verse 17. For the congregation
of them that will come again out of their captivity made booths
and sat under the booths. For since the days of Joshua
the son of Nun, unto that day had not the children of Israel
done so. And there was great gladness. They failed to do this. It was one of the great festivals
that they went to celebrate, living in booths. It was a reminder,
of course, that they had been a pilgrim people for 40 years. They'd been wandering in the
wilderness before they entered into the Promised Land. They
had no permanent dwellings. They were not to forget that
they were strangers and pilgrims upon the earth. But they'd failed
to do that. But now, in this month, you see. It's a great
month, this 7th month. And it's not only a month that's
associated with those great feasts trumpets the day of atonement
and the feast of tabernacles but in the days of Ezra when
Ezra had returned from the captivity it was in that same seventh month
that they had reared the altar of the Lord the brazen altar
had been reared some years previously when Ezra at first returns and
of course that's very significant the altar the place of the burnt
offering back in Ezra 3 when the seventh month was come and
the children of Israel were in the cities the people gathered
themselves together as one man to Jerusalem then stood up Jeshua
the son of Josedach and his brethren the priest and Zerubbabel the
son of Shealtiel and his brethren, and builded the altar of the
God of Israel, who offered burnt offerings thereon, as it is written
in the Lord of Moses, the man of God. And they set the altar
upon his bases, for fear was upon them because of the people
of those countries. And they offered burnt offerings
thereon unto the Lord, even burnt offerings morning and evening. Oh what a month is this, this
seventh month and here we are the first day upon the first
day of the seventh month. As I said this was that day on
which they were to mark the feast of trumpets. a memorial of blowing
of trumpets is how it's spoken of and we read of it in Numbers
in Numbers chapter 29 for example and there in the opening words
of that chapter in the seventh month on the first day of the
month he shall have a holy convocation and holy assembly ye shall do
no servile work there it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto
you and it's important that we recognize the association the
association between the blowing of the trumpets and the solemn
reading and the expounding of the word of God that's quite
significant And I like the comment that's
made by Matthew Paul, one of the Puritans. He says that the
blowing of the trumpets signifies the great duty of ministers of
the gospel to preach the word. And isn't that really what we
see something of here? In verse 4, Ezra the scribe stood
upon a pulpit of wood which they had made for the purpose. and
beside him stand all these various other men and they opened the
book in the sight of the people and as he opened the book the
people stand up and the Lord God is blessed in verse 6 Ezra
blessed the Lord the great God and all the people answered Amen,
Amen with lifting up of their hands and they bowed their heads
and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground and
then they read in the book in the law of God distinctly it
says distinctly the word distinctly here has the idea of with an
interpretation there is an expounding of the word as they read the
word they give the sense and they cause the people to understand
the significance of the word and so we see quite clearly the
importance of the time that all of this is happening. It's on
the day that would mark the feast of trumpets. And here is the
trumpeting as it were of the very word of God. And so it goes on even into chapter
9. we read through into that ninth chapter in the 24th day
of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting
and with sackcloth and earth upon them and the seed of Israel
separated themselves from all strangers and stood and confessed
their sins and the iniquities of their fathers and they stood
up in their place and read in the book of the Lord of the Lord
their God one fourth part of the day and another fourth part
they confessed and worshipped the Lord their God, then stood
up upon the stairs or the scaffold. This is that pulpit that they
had made for the purpose. And we read of the Levites being
there. It is all to do then with the Feast of Trumpets. It's the
proclaiming in a public place of the Word of God. Now, as I
said, the seventh month is the great festival month. But what
is the significance of all those feasts and those sacrifices that
we read of in the book of Leviticus? Remember it's in Leviticus 23
and there at verse 23 and the following verses that you can
read of these feasts the Feast of Trumpets the Day of Atonement
the Feast of Tabernacles but what are all those Levitical
laws? The book of Leviticus is a gospel
book. That's what we have there. It's
Old Testament gospel. We see Christ in types and figures
and shadows. And so we need also to take account
of the type that we have here. We have them causing the people to understand
and it's mentioned twice. Here at verse 7, the end of verse
7 in chapter 8, and then again in verse 8. We're told how the Levites caused
the people to understand the law, and the people stood in
their place. So they read in the book in the
law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to
understand the reading. This is the purpose, that they
might understand, that to understand the word, that to understand
the significance of the law of God. how they are to be carefully
instructed. Again at verse 13. On the second
day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the
people, the priest and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to
understand the words of the law. The margin gives an alternative
that they might instruct in the words of the law. It's not just
reading. There is the reading in the public
place but there's also the expounding, the opening up of the words that
the people might understand what is being read. Now who is the
person who seems to have the chief responsibility in all of
this? Well it's Ezra. And he is spoken
of as the scribe here in verses 1 and 4 then he is spoken of
also as the priest in verse 2 he is the priest and he is the scribe
and these two come together don't they in verse 9 we read of Nehemiah
which is the Tershethah and Ezra the priest the scribe Ezra the
priest the scribe and Ezra himself is in many ways a typical character,
a type of the Lord Jesus. Christ is a prophet and a priest
just as Ezra is a scribe and a priest. A scribe, the man of
course who would be familiar copying out the words of God
but doing more than that here. He's reading the words, he's
proclaiming the word but he's not only a scribe, he's a priest
and Christ himself as I said is prophet as well as priest. In fact you know the Lord Jesus
is that one who is the great prophet that one that was promised
who would come like unto Moses and yet in many ways of course
far greater than Moses. Doesn't Moses tell the people
there in Deuteronomy 18? The Lord thy God will raise up
unto thee a prophet from the midst of thy brethren like unto
me. Unto him you shall hearken. And then God speaks directly.
I will raise him up a prophet from among their brethren like
unto thee, says the Lord God to Moses. And will put my words
in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command
him. Oh, it's the Lord Jesus who is
that great prophet, that one who is the fulfillment of the
prophetic office. And how the Lord speaks. Grace
is poured into thy lips, says the Psalmist in the Messianic
Psalm, Psalm 45. Grace is poured into thy lips. or the Lord Jesus we see him
there in the song his lips like lilies dropping sweet smelling
myrrh all the words that fall from the mouth of the Lord Jesus
Christ even those that the Jews those officers that the Jewish
leaders send to to catch Christ out in his words what do those
officers say never man spake like this man Never man spake
like this man. He whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God. For God giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto him. All the Lord Jesus and his ministry.
He says concerning his teaching, his doctrine, My doctrine is
not mine, but his that sent me. He is the Lord's servant. He
is the great prophet of God. He is that one in whom we have
the fulfilment of the prophetic office. There can be no prophet
after Christ. There can be no prophet. And
we know that Mohammed is a false prophet. Because Christ is the fulfilment
of the prophetic office. In his last days God has spoken
unto us by his Son. There can be no fuller revelation
from God and how he speaks. We have the record of his sermons,
the Sermon on the Mount. And the people were astonished
at his doctrine, astonished at his teaching. He taught as one
having authority and not as the scribes. All those scribes in
the New Testament, very different to Ezra, this man. He was a scribe
and he was a priest. It is a type of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And here we see something of
the authority of the preaching and it's that authority that
marks it as God's Word. It's that authority that marks
it as the Word of Christ. What do we read concerning these
men at the end of this 7th verse? These Levites they caused the
people to understand the law and the people stood in their
place. So they read in the book in the Lord of God distinctly
and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading.
There was the unction of the Spirit causing the people to
understand those things that were being spoken by these men. And this is the authority that
comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. when he gives charge to his disciples at the end of Matthew
a great commission what are they to do? he tells his disciples
how to go into all the worlds to preach the gospel to every
creature teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you all the way, even
unto the end of the world. They are to be those then who
would speak the words of Christ, the commandments of Christ. We
have those words in Romans 10 concerning the preaching. How
shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? Romans 10.14 Interesting statements. How shall they believe in him
of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? Now it's interesting the relationship
between those clauses because it is argued in the commentators
that the word of really is quite superfluous. The more literal
rendering of that clause would be how shall they believe in
him whom they have not heard? In the preaching there is that
sense in which we hear of Christ. Christ is the great subject matter
of the preaching. We preach Christ and him crucified,
Paul says to the Corinthians. I determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. It's a great theme
of apostolic preaching. Christ in his person, Christ
in his work. We read through the Acts. What
do they preach? They are forever preaching the resurrection. Here
is the vindication of Christ, our witnesses. There is then that sense in which
Christ is the very subject matter of that faithful preaching of
the word. He is the key whereby we can unlock All that's in the
Word of God. We sang it just now in the hymn,
didn't we? The Scriptures and the Lord. Bear one tremendous
name, the written and incarnate Word in all things are the same.
It's Christ in all the Scriptures. And if we're reading the Scriptures
are right, that's what we'll see. We'll see Him everywhere.
There is that sense then in which they hear of Christ. How shall
they believe in Him? of whom they have not heard. But how significant if we omit,
omit their little words. How shall they believe in him
whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? It's not just that they're hearing of Christ, but
there is that sense in which Christ himself is heard. His voice is heard in the preaching
in the ministry. as Paul says to those Ephesians
he have not so learned Christ if so be ye have heard him and
been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus have we heard him? have we been taught by him? that
is the authority and what does it mean to be hearing him? well
where does he speak? in the word he is the word incarnate
and this book, the scriptures, this is God's word. It's to the
law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this word it is because there's no light in them. There's no
authority vested in the man, any man. The authority is in
the words. The word of God that man is to
handle and to expound and to explain. And so the best thing
for any people is to have that spirit of the Bereans. You're
to search the scriptures to see that these things are so. Don't
just accept it because the preacher stands in the pulpit and says
it. But bring it to that touch though. The Lord and the Testament. The Word of Christ. It's the
Word of Christ. Here we see the importance, the
reading of the word. It's Christ's word that's being
read in the public reading. It's the preaching of Christ
in the proclamation of it. But then, having spoken somewhat
of the reading of the word, the hearing of the word in the public
place, let us turn to the importance
of hearing. the importance of hearing. And
what sort of hearing do we have here? Or what hearers were these? The people gathered themselves
together it says. There's one man. There's one
man into the street that was before the water gate and they
spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the Lord of
Moses which the Lord had commanded to Israel. They have an appetite
for the Word and there's a unanimity here. The people gathered. It's the gathering of the people.
It's the public assembling of the people as one man. And their
great desire that they might hear the word of God. They speak
unto Ezra to bring the book of the Lord of Moses. And how persistent
they are in their hearing Verse 3, he read therein before the
street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday. There's reading, and reading. We know that with regards to the feast of
the tabernacles, which is what they discover at this time, there
in Leviticus, In Leviticus 23, in verse 35, on the first day
of the seventh month, we read of a convocation, an assembly.
No work was done. And then, in the next verse,
verse 36, on the 8th day. On the 8th day there's another
convocation, an assembly, that's what it means. The people coming
together, gathering together, and again no work was done they
were just there to hear the word of God and of course the seventh
month would come year by year and they were to observe all
those great feasts that we spoke of the feast of trumpets, the
day of atonement the feast of tabernacles but then there was
something more that was to be done in the seventh year All
the significance of the numbers. The seventh month and the seventh
year. What do we read concerning the
seventh year? Interesting. Back in Deuteronomy
chapter 31. Return to that passage. And there at verse 10, Deuteronomy
31.10, Moses commanded them, saying, at the end of every seven
years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the Feast
of Tabernacles, when all Israel is come to appear before the
Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose, they shall read
the law before all Israel in their hearing. Every 7th year, that's when it
was to happen. It was happening here, of course,
in the days of Nehemiah, but they had been neglectful, but
there it was in the book of the Lord, in Deuteronomy 31 and verse
11, that in every 7th year there was to be this solemn reading
of God's words. And we know at this particular
time, in the days of Nehemiah, that reading every day. Verse 18 also day by day from
the first day on to the last day he read in the book of the
law of God and they kept the feast that is the feast of tabernacles
seven days and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly according
on to the manner. Oh what faithful hearing of the
Word of God. Oh, there was no famine. Oh,
there was no famine then of the hearing of the Word of God. That's
a terrible threatening word that God issues through his servant
Amos the prophet. I will send a famine upon the
land, he says, not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water
but a famine of the hearing of the Word of God. And he said,
not in our land a famine. famine of the hearing of the
word of God what ignorance! what ignorance! one remembers
in the days of youth most people had some awareness of God's word
children were still being sent to Sunday school maybe in some
good churches there was a measure of catechizing also but there
was a certain familiarity with the Word of God. But I'm told
now, you see, if you've ever seen that television program,
University Challenge, where we have all the brightest of the
land apparently, if they're asked a question that has anything
to do with the Word of God, they're in total ignorance. They know
not a thing about the Word of God. They might know about all
sorts of wonderful things. I mean, it's not easy. I've seen
it on odd occasions, that program. It's not easy. One pats oneself
on the back if you answer one of the questions. But they're
so ignorant of God's Word. There's a famine. There's a famine
of the Word of God upon the land. And it's a terrible judgment.
And it's spoken of in Scripture. We're a land under God's judgmental
dealings, alas. But there was no famine, you
see, in this time. or there was a great hearing
of the word of God and how they heard it how they heard it, with
what attention they were listening to the word as it says at the
end of verse 3 the ears of all the people were attentive unto
the book of the law they were attentive to it and
what regard they had for it what reverence we say as Ezra opens
the book in verse 5 Ezra opened the book in the sight of all
the people for he was above all the people and when he opened
it all the people stood up and Ezra blessed the Lord the great
God and all the people answered Amen, Amen with lifting up of
their hands and they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord
with their faces to the ground Oh, what a regard they had for
God's words. Are we those who reverence the
Word of God? We sang it again, didn't we,
just now in the hymn? Say, Christian, wouldst thou
thrive in knowledge of thy Lord against no Scripture ever strive? But tremble at His words, if
aught there dark appear, Beware thy want of sight, though imperfection
can be there, for all God's words are right. Order with reverence,
keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, says the
preacher. Be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of
fools, they consider not what they do. Be not rash with thy
mouth. Be not hasty to utter anything
before the Lord. For God is in heaven and thou
upon earth, therefore let thy word be few. is there that reverence at all
as we come into God's holy presence and open God's word and hear
that word of God as it is as it's read, as it's preached and
we want to bow before it not just in a physical sense but
spiritually to know that meekness of spirit and to receive it as
the engrafted Word, the table to save our souls. There's faithfulness here in
the way in which they attend to God's Word and hear God's
Word. And the hearing is effectual. Oh, it's an effectual hearing. They understand it. And that's
a great thing to understand the Word of God. It says there at the end of verse
12 they had understood the words that were declared unto them. Oh, if we understand the Word,
what does it mean? Well, faith cometh. Faith cometh
by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. But if faith is coming,
we have to understand the Word of God. And see here, how they
did understand it. Before there was any joy with
these people, there was much sorrow. There was the solemn
effect of hearing the law of God. There in verse 9 where we
read of Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites, they taught the
people and said unto all the people this day is holy unto
the Lord your God more not nor weep for all the people wept
when they heard the words of the law. They heard the words
of the law and it made them weep. Now why was that? Why was that? Well, wherefore then serveth
the law? asks the apostle to the Galatians. Wherefore then serveth the law?
It was added because of transgressions. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. By the law is the knowledge
of sin. Remember when the Lord tells
the parable of the sower and his seed in that great 13th chapter
in Matthew, a chapter which records many of the parables of the Lord,
Matthew 13. And he speaks there of the sower
who goes forth to sow and the seed falls on various types of
ground. It's a broad casting of the seed. A broad casting. It falls on
all sorts of ground. And when the Lord interprets
the parable, what does He say? Verse 20 of that chapter, He
that received the seed into stony places, the same is He that heareth
the word, and anon with joy receiveth it. Yet hath he not root in himself
but dureth for a while for when tribulation or persecution arises
because of the word by and by he is offended. This is the stony ground here
you see. He hears the words and anon immediately. Or he receives
it with joy. And that should make us suspect,
you see. If God's word is really coming to us, how will it come
to us initially? There's an offence in the word
of God. There's an offence. There's that ministry of the
law of God. I like the simple comment of
dear Matthew Hendry. He says, they that tremble at
the conviction of the word may triumph in its consolations.
if we tremble at the convictions all will know the beauty of the
consolations what comforts there are in the word of God but who
is it for the whole need not the physician but they that are
sick Christ said I came not to call the righteous but sinners
unto repentance it's a word for sinners those who grieve at the
word but here you see it's a gospel reading in so many ways, because
there's to be great rejoicing. What do we read at verse 10? Go your way, eat the fat, drink
the sweet, send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared,
for this day is holy unto our Lord, neither be ye sorry, for
the joy of the Lord is your strength. All these people who wept, that
the healing of the word of God this day is holy unto our Lord
neither be ye sorry for the joy of the Lord is your strength
so the Levites stilled all the people saying hold your peace
for the day is holy neither be ye grieved or they that sow in
tears they reap in joy either goeth there forth bearing precious
seeds shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves
with him. That's the effectual hearing
of the Word of God those arrows that we sang of in our opening
prize how they pierce, how they cut those on the day of Pentecost
pricked in their hearts The Lord when he speaks to Saul there
in Acts 9 it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks, the
goats his conscience being pricked and pierced but you see there is salvation
for those who are poor needy sinners those that sow in tears
or they will reap in joy The Sami says I was turned my mourning
into dancing. That's what the Lord does. That's
what God's word does. And so here we see the reality
of the reception of the word of God because there's obedience. There's obedience. There's a
submission to that word, isn't there? When they find that it's
written in the law which the Lord had commanded by Moses that
the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast
of the seventh month and all the congregation of them that
were come again out of their captivity made booths and sat
under the booths for their obedience they want to do the Word of God
be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only deceiving your own
selves says James or God grant that we might be those then who
know that the word is to us an effectual word because it brings
us to that place of holy obedience that submission to the authority
of God's word or that we might learn then of this people and
the significance of the reading of the scriptures the preaching
of the sign the hearing of the word the believing in the Word
and the Word that directs us always to Him who is God's Word,
the Word of God incarnate even our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord
then be pleased to bless His Word to us. Amen.