Prerequisite to Revival Nehemiah 8:1-8 Dr. Mac Brunson

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1 1 Prerequisite to Revival Nehemiah 8:1-8 Dr. Mac Brunson In his book, No Wonder They Call Him Savior, Max Lucado talks about hearing God in Christ through His Word: Something happens to a man when he stands within inches of (Jesus Christ) the Lion of Judah. Something happens when he hears the roar, when he touches the golden mane. Something happens when he gets so close he can feel the Lion s breath. 1 Have you ever stopped and thought about the word of God in those terms? When you read it, do you hear the roar of the Lion of the tribe of Judah? Have you ever gotten close enough to the Lord through reading His word that you could feel the Lion s breath as He spoke? When the wall was finished, the Bible says that the enemies of Nehemiah knew the wall had been completed with the help of God. It is amazing to me how clearly the enemies of our Lord can see the work of God and His people are often oblivious to what God is doing. In the first six chapters of Nehemiah, the nation built most of the wall. There are gatekeepers in the day and guards at night. From all over the land, people gathered to celebrate the finished wall, but there was a spiritual void in the life of the people. Nothing speaks like the word of God. Nothing speaks to life, to purpose, or to meaning like the word of God. How you approach the Word of God determines whether or not you hear the voice of God. God 1 Max Lucado, No Wonder They Call Him Savior (Multnomah Press: Portland, 1986), 164.

2 2 speaks uniquely through His word, but how you approach it is critical. Consider the following three different approaches. I. How The Man Of State Approaches The Word Of God (8:1) At this point, there is a shift in the book and it is evident grammatically. Nehemiah no longer writes in the first person, but rather shifts to the third person. In fact, Nehemiah drops completely from the scene until 8:9. Ezra takes center stage behind a podium. Since Nehemiah built everything else, I believe he built this podium, as well. I have no doubt that he oversaw the set up so that Ezra could stand and read the word of God and speak to the people. The Bible tells us that he stood above the people, so perhaps Nehemiah had built a platform with the podium on it. Nehemiah is essentially the political leader in Israel. He functions as a governor under the authority of the king of Persia. He is a politician, a construction foreman, a city planner, and an organizer. However, he recognizes that the people need something that politics and organization and construction and economy cannot bring them. Nehemiah steps aside and allows the podium from which the word of God will be preached take center stage. We have done the same thing as Baptists. There are many denominations that have a divided chancel. You have the pulpit on one side and the lectern on the other. This is where we differ from other Protestants. We place the pulpit right here in the center just as Nehemiah did to emphasize our approach to the word of God. Above everything else, it is central. Nehemiah, a politician and governor, placed the word of God on center stage. He knew it could do what politics and government could never do. On May 2, 1778 George Washington issued this military order at Valley Forge: The Commander in Chief directs that divine services be performed every Sunday at 11 o clock in those brigades to which there are chaplains; those which have none to attend places of worship nearest them. It is expected that officers of all ranks will by their attendance set an example to their men.

3 3 Washington placed this at the center of the life of his officers, his men, and his army. II. How The Man Of God Approaches The Word Of God (8:2-3,7,8,9,12) Ezra was a priest and a scribe who was skilled in the law of Moses. In fact, I believe it was Ezra who kept the word of God during the Babylonian and Persian captivity. I think he assimilated most of the OT record like Chronicles and Kings. Look at what he does in this passage: 1. He brings the law before the assembly of God s people. His action speaks of the preacher s responsibility. He does not roll out some new, exciting psycho-babel. He does not begin a new program or activity. He does not come out with a twenty-minute comedy routine first. I have no calling, no ordination, and no other command than to bring to you the Word of God. In Jer. 6:16, we are told to stand by the way, to stand by the road, and ask for the ancient paths. What we need in our day is not a new direction or a new route to take, but what we desperately need is the old road, the old path, and that old time religion. 2. He Reveals His Commitment To The Word (Ezra 7:10) For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel. When Ezra set his heart, it was a predetermined determination. It was a fixed intention. Ezra devoted himself to the study of the word. There was also an observation to practice it. He was going to be obedient to the word he was going to teach. Next he would teach the statutes, which is the regulation of conduct, and the ordinances, which are the duties and responsibilities.

4 4 In 8:7, we are told that he explained the law. In 8:8, he translated to give the sense of the words so the people could understand. In 8:9, we see that the people were taught. It was such a good job that the people go away in celebration because they understood the words. The word, understood, is used three times in this passage and means, to make a distinction, to separate, to divide between. Consider Lev. 10:10-11: and so as to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean, and so as to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them through Moses. The man of God is to take the Word of God and divide it, that is to exegete it and apply it to life, so that you can make a distinction between the holy and the profane, the clean and the unclean. That is what Ezra was doing. Evidently, if you look at 8:7 you get the impression that the Levitical priests were among the people making the application. The law of God was not something to be kept as an antiquity in the Ark of the Covenant. It was to be taken out, read, and applied to life. Consider Deut. 4:6: So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all of these statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. Seventy-five years ago, people said that about America, but we are no longer known as a wise and understanding people. In fact, it was about the same time that we began to dismantle the things of God in our society. What concerns me is what happens when the word of God is no longer preached from the pulpit. What happens when the word of God is so marginalized that people gather more for entertainment than they do for instruction. What happens when you either choose not to hear the word or go to a place where the word is not central and not important? William Lawson, pastor and author writes:

5 5 Be afraid, be very afraid when preachers are noted more for their smile, their shallowness, and for not preaching on sin than they are known for preaching the word. It matters that you listen and it matters to whom you listen. Ezra took the word seriously, devoted his life to it, exegeted it carefully, and applied it prayerfully. That is how the man of God should approach the word of God. III. How The People Approach The Word Of God (8:1-7) The people of God dominate this passage. In fact the word people occurs thirteen times in the first twelve verses. The phrase all the people occurs nine times in this chapter. It was the people who took the initiative and asked for Ezra to come and to read to them the Word. The Bible tells us that they gathered as one man, which speaks of their unity because they all desired the same thing. Part of Satan s plan is to divide us and keep us divided and to keep us focused on differences that do not matter so that we will not do what these Jews did. He does not want us to come together under the word and make it possible for revival to break out. The people knew what they needed and that was a move of God on their hearts and in their midst. Look at how these people responded to the Word: 1. They were responsive and not judgmental. 2. They listened attentively (8:3) 3. They stood respectfully (8:5) 4. The worshipped responsively (8:6) Lifting hands was not a sign they were charismatic, but rather it was a sign of dependency on God. Saying Amen implied agreement. Bowing down was a sign of humility and reverence. 1. They were teachable and not critical.

6 6 They did not stand out in the parking lot or rush to get to their social media account to be critical of the music, the preaching, or the length of the service. They gathered as one man at the Water Gate and they listened because they hungered for the word of God. In 8:3, we are told that they were attentive. When people are hungry, for the word they are teachable. In his book, The Romance of the Last Crusade, Major Vivian Gilbert wrote about the battle for Jerusalem and the horrible thirst they had as they inched their way through the desert fighting the Turks for Jerusalem in World War I: Our heads ached, our eyes became blood shot and dim in the blinding glare. Our tongues began to swell. Our lips turned to a purplish black and burst. Those who dropped out of the column were never seen again, but the desperate force battled on the Sherea. There were wells at Sherea. Had they been unable to take the place by nightfall, thousands were doomed to die of thirst. We fought that day as men fight for their lives. We entered Sherea Station on the heels of the retreating Turks. The first objects which met our view were the stone cisterns full of cold, clear drinking water. It took four hours before the last man had his drink of water, and I believe that we all learned our first real Bible lesson on that march from Beersheba to the Sherea wells. If such were our thirst for God and for righteousness, for his will in our lives, a consuming, all embracing, preoccupying desire, how rich in the fruit of the Spirit we all would be. 2 In Nehemiah, they gathered at the Water Gate thirsty, parched, with one preoccupying thought to hear the word of God. Do we ever think of church as a water gate? Do we ever come thirsty and parched, with one preoccupying desire? Do we ever 2 David Jeremiah, Life Wide Open (Nashville: Integrity, 2003),

7 7 ache for a drink from the water of God s Word? This water is life. We need to drink deeply from it.