It had been a tough couple of months. Nehemiah had been serving as the cup-bearer of the king of Persia. It had not been too long since the Persians allowed the Jews to go back to Judea after their exile in Babylon.  When Jeremiah heard from some Jews who had recently come from Jerusalem that even though the temple had been rebuilt the walls of the city were still in disrepair he went to the Lord in prayer. He then went to the king and asked for a leave of absence to go to Jerusalem and oversee the rebuilding of the walls of the city.

When Jeremiah arrived he rallied the leaders and they got to work. But it was no easy task. There was rubble everywhere.  Jerusalem had been almost completely destroyed by the Babylonians and for over 70 years no one had really lived there.  Not to mention, the Arabs and Samaritans and other groups in the area didn’t want to see the city nor walls rebuilt. They kept threatening to attack. Men, women and children worked on the rebuilding project. An armed guard was posted behind the workers at all times. Sentries were posted at the low points in the wall during the night. Those carrying materials did so with a weapon in one hand at all times. But, in spite of the hard work and stress, the whole wall was completed in just 52 days.

Everyone, even their enemies, recognized that this was an amazing accomplishment. God’s people recognized that this was possible only by the power and blessing of the Lord. They wanted to give thanks and praise to God for this blessing. But, many of the people had grown up in Babylon. They had not had regular access to the Scriptures. They realized that if they were going to give God thanks and praise they needed to do it in a way that would be pleasing to the Lord. So they asked Ezra the priest and scribe to bring out the scroll of the Torah, the revelation that God had given them through Moses. They said, “Let us hear what the Lord says.”  So Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people sanctified the whole congregation by the reading and preaching of the Law (Neh. 8:8–9).

The project to build the wall, in fact to rebuild the city, was not merely motivated by some kind of nationalism or practicality.  It was bound up with faith and hope in God’s promise of the coming Messiah, since the prophets had predicted a rebuilt and prosperous Jerusalem as a necessary precursor to the coming of the Savior.

The holy city of Jerusalem was more than a temple and a city wall – it was the holy people inhabiting the city.  But not just any population would do.  Jerusalem’s population was to be a faithful remnant, they were to be the people of God who were faithful to Him in word and deed.   To accomplish this, the proclamation God’s Word as well as repentance and faith followed by sanctified living were essential for repopulating the city with holy people. The gathering to read the Teaching of Moses and the diligence of the priests to ensure the people understood it were part of preserving the hope of God’s people in the Messiah.  The history of God’s people proved that it was not so much the faithfulness of the people in serving God which God regarded, but their faith in the promise of a Redeemer who would save them in spite of their many acts of unfaithfulness.

The instruction in God’s Word had its intended effect, leading people to a joyful celebration and feast.  They affirm their faith in God’s Word with shouts of “amen”, gestures of prayer in worshipping God. As the people of Nehemiah’s day were urged to “eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready” (Neh. 8:10), so are you anointed by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ to share in His feast and to serve the fellow members of His Body with His good gifts, “giving greater honor to the part that lacked it” (1 Cor. 12:12, 24).

But notice that the people were also moved to sadness over their sin.  They had brought their exile upon themselves by rejecting God. They had built up walls around their city, around their lives, around their hearts that were shattered by their sin.

We too hear the same Law of God today – that we have fallen short of God’s requirements to live as His people.  Our sinfulness has led to destruction, to exile from where God has promised to be for His people. We have not always gladly heard or learned God’s Word, but have despised it.  All too often we prefer our own temporary comfort in the form of sleeping in, or sports, or television over the protection and comfort that God provides.  We try to build walls around us for protection. Wall around our heart to protect it from getting hurt. Walls around our finances to protect against disaster. Walls of busyness so we don’t have time to think or worry or deal with deeper issues. Walls within our families, our schools, our coworkers, and even around our ears so as not to hear that our sins condemn us. 

But none of these walls can actually protect us. All they do is trap us inside of ourselves along with our sin, our own personal hell.  The only true protection comes to us by Jesus. The only true protection comes to us through the Word of God as it is spoken and proclaimed among us and applied to our lives.

Nehemiah’s solution to our grief over these sins is the Gospel: “the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  In this world, God’s people remain sinners who struggle with the temptations of the flesh as well as saints justified before God by His grace through faith in Christ.  Because of our persistent sinfulness, there are times when we need to be reminded and sometimes prodded back to faithful lives. There’s a reason why God gave us the third commandment: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  He commands that we gladly hear and learn the Word of Christ, that we do not despise God nor His Word because Christ is revealed through the preaching of His Word – your sins are condemned and Christ’s forgiveness is given to you, today.

When Jesus opens His mouth to preach, gracious words flow from His lips. With the presence of Jesus, through His Word, the Scriptures are fulfilled in our hearing (Luke 4:21–22). For Christ was anointed by the Spirit of the Lord “to proclaim good news to the poor,” “to proclaim liberty to the captives” and “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18–19). By this proclamation, Christ releases His people from captivity and gathers them to Himself in His Church. So it was when the Lord released His people from Babylon and returned them to Jerusalem.

Baptized believers in Christ are citizens of the holy city Jerusalem that is above.  Because of our sinful nature and for the growth of God’s kingdom, the Church continues the ministry of proclaiming God’s Word of Law and Gospel to bring people to repentance and faith until Christ returns, and then the new Jerusalem will be populated with all believers, who will be free from sin forevermore.