Alright, probably still have
me a mile open there. This is another one of those
beautiful, beautiful pictures of Christ. I thoroughly enjoy
studying these Old Testament types. As I've said so many times, that when I see Christ clearly
in these types, my faith is strengthened. Another nail is driven home in
my heart. In my faith, when I see Christ
so clearly from these obscure old passages like this, things
that are so evident, that I'm persuaded more than ever that
God wrote this book and that this is the Christ, that we've
got the right one and the true gospel and the prophecies. We've seen together so many Old
Testament types of prophecies are so precise and so clearly
fulfilled in Christ. that we conclude God had to have
written this. He had to. And now, once again,
this is very clear. Now, here's a summary view of
what you just read, or the whole book of Nehemiah, in fact. I hope you'll bear with me. Nehemiah lived at the same time
as Ezra. Nehemiah and Ezra lived, they
were contemporary. They knew each other and they
worked together. Ezra was concerned with building
the temple. We just studied that. Ezra was
responsible for overseeing the building of the temple. Of course,
he's a picture of Christ. Nehemiah now, what this book
is about, is the building of the wall that surrounded Jerusalem. You know, there's still a wall
surrounding Jerusalem today. And Nehemiah was the one who
oversaw that. He was the one sent by the king
to build up this wall which surrounded the city. And that's what this
whole book is about, the building of this wall. Now, what's so
significant about that? Why is so much devoted to building
a wall? Well, because when you think
of a wall, any of you have fences around your property or something. When you think of a wall, a wall
serves two purposes. A wall serves for protection,
to keep unwanted things out. Right? Protection. And also separation. It keeps things in from getting
out. Okay? A wall. This wall is a
picture of the word of our God, the gospel. Peter said the gospel,
the word. And the word of God is what is
salvation. The word of God is what saves
us and keeps us. And the word of God is what separates
us from the world, sanctification. Our Lord said that in his He
said, sanctify them or set them apart through thy truth, thy
word is truth. He said, they're not of the world.
Why? Why are not God's people of the
world? Because this has set them apart.
This has sanctified them, the gospel, their belief in Christ.
And over and over again, he warned us that we would be hated by
all men for the gospel's sake. He said, they would cast you
out. They would cast you out for God's name's sake. Now, we do not physically separate
ourselves from the world. Believers don't try to do that.
We're not told to do that, physically separate ourselves from the world,
like go into a cave and live like the monks did, or a monastery,
or some societies, even in our little town, that remove themselves
from society and form their own little communes and all that.
But we're told to live in the world. Christ sends his people
out into the world as salt, salt of the earth, all right? Yet
the gospel separates us. The gospel separates us from
the world and it from us. Paul said, I am crucified to
the world and it to me. How? The gospel. But we don't
purposely alienate ourselves from other people. We don't try
to make enemies. We don't try to keep people at
arm's distance, do we? We don't try to make enemies.
But the gospel will do it. The gospel will. And this is why sometimes you
can't understand why you feel estranged from people. You ever
felt that way when you meet somebody that you don't hardly know and
you don't think they know you and yet you feel an estrangement
there? You ever feel like that? I do. Of course, most probably
maybe have seen my face at some point and heard and read some
articles or what, but they know that's what it is. What it is,
that is strength, is the gospel. There's a barrier there, an unseen
barrier, a wall that separates you from the way. And that's
the gospel. And again, Christ said, they are not of the world.
And I thought about this. Isn't it interesting that our
society is so taken up with tearing down walls and building bridges,
when the Word of God talks about building walls and separation? Building walls. All right. Chapter
1. Chapter 1. That's what this whole
thing is about. Did you understand? What this thing's about? A wall,
building a wall? What's a wall represent? The gospel, all right? Represents
the gospel. All right, the report comes to
Nehemiah about the condition of Jerusalem and the people.
He heard the report concerning the city and the people in verse
3, and they said unto me, the remnant that are left of the
captivity, the remnant, They're in the province, they're in great
affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is broken
down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. And this is
a picture of man's condition by nature when he fell. And us,
by nature, we're this remnant, we're this elect of God here.
The remnant, he said, we're this same thing. When God found us,
we were dead in trespasses and sin. was not to be found. We weren't
to be found in it. Afflicted, it says, in great
affliction, afflicted by sin, under reproach by the law. They
were in reproach, and it says they were burned with fire. We
were in danger of the judgment, and fire brought God. who's rich
in mercy, sent Christ to restore some of these people to a better
state than before. And that's why Nehemiah was to
come. It says in verse 4, when it came to pass, when I heard
these words, and I sat down and wept and mourned a certain day
and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. And that's
a picture of our Mediator, of our Savior, Christ, who was sent
by God, the Restorer, the Builder of the Church, who himself wept
and fasted and prayed on our behalf. Look at verse 5. And he said, I beseech thee,
here's his prayer, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the
great and terrible God. Nehemiah knew the true God, didn't
he? He feared the Lord. "...that keepeth covenant and
mercy for them that love him, and observe his commandment."
He said, "...I beseech thee." And it was because of the terror
of the Lord that our Savior came. That's why he came. Because our
God is terrible. Knowing, therefore, the terror
of the Lord, our Savior came to rescue us from that terror. And because of this covenant
that was between the Father and the Son, that's why He came.
He's a covenant God and keepeth mercy. He's a merciful God. That's
why Christ came. He must. And look at verse 6
and 7. Then He prays, Let thine ear now be attended, and thine
eyes open. that thou mayest hear the prayer
of thy servant. And Christ, our high priest,
prayed there in John 17, O Father, hear my prayer. And he said,
I know you hear me. You always hear me. Which I pray
before thee day and night, for he ever lives to make intercession
for the children of Israel. Read on. He says, I confess the
sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against
them. Both I and my father's house
have sinned. You say that's where the tide
breaks down. No, it doesn't. Because Christ was numbered with
the transgressor. He was made sin for us. He was
numbered with the transgressor. I read on down in verse, let's
go down to verse 8. Let's keep on down there. Verse
8 and 9. He says, Remember, I beseech thee, the word thou commandest
thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter
you abroad. But if ye turn unto me, and keep
my commandments, and do them, though there were of you cast
out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather
them from thin, and bring them unto the place that I have chosen
to set my name there. And Christ came and he said just
as much as this. He said, Come unto me, all you
that labor and heavy laden. He said, He that hath my words
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. He said, Here in your
soul will live. He said, I've come to gather
you, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, come
unto me. I am the place God hath chosen to set his name there,
whereby you must be saved. The only name given among men,
whereby we must be saved. All right, verses 10 and 11. And he says, Now these are thy
servants. and thy people whom thou hast
redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand." And didn't
Christ pray that very prayer there? He said, Thine are mine
and mine are thine. He said, These are the men which
thou gavest me, and I have redeemed them. And he said in verse 11,
O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the
prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants. who
desire to fear thy name, and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant
this day. Grant him mercy in the sight
of this man. And Christ prayed that we might
be heard. Remember when he told his disciples,
he said, You can go to the Father and pray yourself, for the Father
heareth you, for my sake. And that's what Nehemiah prayed
there. And grant me, he said, that I might prosper. And the
pleasure of the Lord did prosper in Christ's name. All right?
Now, look at this marvelous line. Did you note it? The last part
of verse 11? He said, For I was the king's
cupbearer. I want you to turn over to John
17 with me and see that. I've been quoting it to you.
Now, BMI had just prayed, hadn't it? He just prayed for the people,
interceded for the people, asked God to bless his servants, to
bless him, to bless his work, and to hear them as they prayed,
to hear him as he prayed, and hear them also. And he prayed,
and then he said, he concluded all this by saying, I was the
king's cupbearer. Are you looking at it? Look at
John 17, verse 6. He says, I have manifested thy
name unto the men which thou gavest me, and thine they were.
Down in verse 10, all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and
I am glorified in thee. And immediately after praying,
Christ says this. Look across the page at John
18. Look at verse 11. John 18, verse 11. Then said
Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheep, the cup
which my Father hath given thee, shall I not drink it? I'm the
king's cup bearer. He just prayed, and he said,
I'm the cup bearer, and I must, I must take this cup, and Christ
did, took the cup of God's ray. All right, back to chapter 2.
And prepare for a blessing. Chapter 2, this is where we'll
concern most of ourself mostly with. Chapter 2. And so there's
his prayer. And here's the story of him when
he came. And it came to pass, in the month
of Nisan, in the twentieth year of our desertion since the king,
that wine was before him. And I took up the wine and gave
it unto the king. What's that? Before he came. It was something which was before
the king, which he was the cupbearer of and presented it to the king
to appease, to please the king, and in order to grant him favor
so that he would be sent on this special mission and prosper.
What was it? That's right. He's the cupbearer.
He's the blood before the Lord. He's called the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. And the blood has always been
before the Lord for His people. And Christ has always presented
that blood before the Father. And that's the reason we have
been accepted in Him from the beginning. And so he appeased
the king and pleased the king with that cup and he told him
his desire. And here's a, this is a secret
council now. This is a secret council between
Nehemiah and the king. A secret council. All right.
Just between them two. These two. All right. Verse three. And I said unto the king, now
let the king live forever. Why should not my countenance
be sad when the city, the place of my father's sepulchre lies
at waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?" Nehemiah
was sad for his people's sake. And Christ, it said, wept. It
said he looked over Jerusalem. And you know, I couldn't help
but think of the preacher of the gospel. The Apostle Paul
said in Romans 9, he said, I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the
flesh. And he prayed for them as Christ did. And so Christ,
yes Christ, but Nehemiah, verse 5, said unto the king, he said,
If it pleased the king, if thy servant had found favor in thy
sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah. unto the city
of my father's sepulchre, that I may build it." And verse 6,
And the king said unto me, and in parenthesis, there's this
little line, the queen also sitting by. And why did it include that? Because there weren't just two
in on there. Absolutely, it must be three. It must be. And even in a parenthesis,
we see that there's three in this thing. These three are one
in their purpose to do that. All right. This one, this queen
is not mentioned, but she's there. You don't see her here, but she's
there. That's the Holy Spirit in the
work of redemption. All right. 6. How long shall thy journey be,
the king says, and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the
king to send me, and I set him a time. Well, in the fullness
of time, God sent forth his Son, made of woman, made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law. All right, verse
7. Moreover, I said unto the king, if it please the king,
let letters be given to me to the governors beyond the river.
that they may convey me over till I come into Judah. In other
words, letters given me that would grant me entrance, that
would open doors for me, that would open the hearts and the ears
and the minds of those everywhere I go to receive me, to receive
my coming. These letters convey me, to further
me on my journey, to set me forth. What might that be? That's the
Word of God, that's the Old Testament and the New, the disciples themselves
who received the Word that tell of Christ's coming, before he
came and when he was here, the Gospel. All right, verse 8. A letter, one letter, unto Asaph,
the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to
make beams for the gates of the palace which appertain to the
house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that
I shall enter into." In other words, he needed some provisions.
He needed things, the materials, and all things that went into
the building of all of it. necessary means and provisions
and materials for the building of the wall. And it says a letter,
and that's the whole of God's Word which is able to make us
wise unto salvation and build us up on this most holy faith. But the whole thing now, really
the building of the wall, the success of it, though it was
in the decree of the king and the queen was in on it, The whole
thing was on the shoulders of Nehemiah, wasn't it? He was the overseer. He was the
builder. And he's the one that came. All
right? All right, let's look at verse
9. Then I came. Then I came. Came to the governors beyond
the river and gave them the king's letters. Didn't Christ say, I've
given them thy word? Now the king and sent captains
of the army and horsemen with me. That's the angels of God
who prepare his way and call out his people. And he came and
he was not well received by the inhabitants of the place.
Some of these, again, these fake Jews, this verse 10, these are
some of these fake Jews. You remember those? Sanballat
and we're going to hear a lot about these fellows because All
the way through here, they went through much tribulation in the
building of this wall. And these fellows are brought
up all the time. And these three did not receive
Nehemiah when he came, but they opposed him. Verse 10, Sanballat
the Horonite, Tobiah the Servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, and
another place, this Gishom the Arabian. And it grieved them
exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of
the children of Israel. They said, you're just a man.
You're just a man. That's what they said to Christ,
wasn't it? He was opposed from the day he
came. From the cradle to the grave,
our Lord was sought out by his enemies. But the good hand of
the King was upon him. And he's going to get the wall
built. All right, look at verse 11. So I came to Jerusalem and
was there Three days. Three days. That's how long Christ
was in Jerusalem. Three days. Three days. And down in verse 16, it says
the rulers didn't know what he was doing there, really. They
just knew he'd come to torment them before their time. But he'd
come, and he was there three days. Three days. And let me
read you this from John 16, all right? Let me just read this
to you, over in John 16. Oh, this is a picture of Christ,
and you're seeing it with your own eye. When he came to Jerusalem,
he was immediately opposed by many, the rulers, the leaders,
the religious leaders, and he abode there three days. And those
he came to save now, those he came to save didn't really know
him yet. Even his apostles, they didn't
really know him yet. He was hidden from their view. And he prophesied, listen to
this, listen to it, in John 16, 16, he said, Now a little while, and you shall not see me. And again, a little while, and
you shall see me. All right, now look here at Nehemiah
chapter 2. Look at it. And it says in verse
16, the rulers knew not whither I went. I went out. They didn't
know where I went or what I did. Neither had I as yet told it
to the Jews. Nobody knew. He left in the night. And they
didn't know where he went or why he left. And isn't that a
picture of Christ? Christ went to Calvary alone
and purged our sins, Hebrews said. And then he went into the
grave and nobody knew where he went, did they? He was gone. Look up at verse 12. It says
that I arose in the night. And then that's also a picture.
He said, I and a few men with me. Remember when Christ went
into the garden with his disciples? Took Peter, James, and John into
that garden with him? But really they didn't know him.
And Nehemiah here apparently left these and went on his own
alone. And nobody knew really why he
had come. It was hidden from the view of
everyone. And it would stay hidden unless
he had declared himself. All right? And like the disciples on the
road to Emmaus, you remember when they were sad and they were
in distress and they were depressed about it all, and Christ came
up to them, Christ appeared to them and made himself known,
opened the scriptures of their understanding and showed all
things concerning himself? I bet he turned to Nehemiah.
Look here at verse 17, in Nehemiah, verse 17. It says, Then said
I unto them, He begins to reveal himself. You see the distress
that we're in, how Jerusalem lies waste and the gates thereof
are burned with fire. And Christ said to those disciples,
that it behooved Christ to suffer and to die and be crucified and
be buried and rise again. He said it behooved them because
of our sin. Him, because of our sin. Come,
He said, let us build up the wall of Jerusalem. There will
be no more reproach. Then I told them, verse 18, then
I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me. and
also all the king's words which he had spoken unto me." And,
buddy, that lifted up their hearts. That rejoiced them. That made
them glad. They said, let's rise up and
be on that. And that strengthened their hands for this good work. And didn't the disciples say,
our hearts burned within us as he opened up the Scriptures to
us by the way? But there continued opposition,
and like I said, it will be with us throughout this study. In
verses 19 and 20, in closing, these same three fellows opposed
them and laughed us to scorn and despised us. and called us
rebels against the king. Everywhere this thing is spoken
against, they said. Then I answered them, and this
is what Nehemiah said on their behalf, God of heaven, he will
prosper us. And this sounds just like Christ's
commission to his disciples. Open Matthew 10. He said, I send
you as sheep among wolves, but go, and you're going to be hated.
You're going to be reproached. Your own enemies, your enemies
will be those of your own household. But I'm going to prosper you.
I'm going to prosper you the whole way. And he said to these
fellows, you have no portion, no right, no memorial in Jerusalem. And the rest of the story, as
I can see it, is concerned with the building of this wall. And
I can't wait to get to chapters eight and nine. When we get there,
you'll see why. But I hope this was a blessing
to someone. It was to me. All right, let's
rise and pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for opening our eyes, we see, we see. We confess like the blind man
who was healed, that we see men walking as trees. We see not
as clearly as we ought to see, but we do see Christ in these
pages. And it rejoices our heart, the gospel. We thank you for
making yourself known unto us. For no man knoweth the Father
save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. And
thank you, Lord, for showing us him who is our full and final
salvation, the builder of the church. Zion, city of God. Thank you, oh Lord, for sending
Christ to do this work for us. In his name we met together and
pray and as he sings, amen.