Nehemiah 3-4
Discussion Topics 1. Historical context 2. What God revealed to us about His plan 3. Key Observations about Leadership 4. Relevance of Nehemiah today
The Significance of The Wall
Key Events at Mt. Moriah Substitute Sacrifice for Isaac Solomon builds 1 st Temple 2 nd Temple rebuilt King David Builds an Altar Destruction of 1 st Temple Wall Rebuilt
Key Events at Mt. Moriah Eschatology Christ Enters Temple at 12 2 nd Temple Destroyed 3 rd Temple Built (Prophecy) Christ Crucified & Resurrection (New Covenant) Israel Re-established Christ s Millennial Reign (Prophecy)
What does God reveal about Himself? 1. His sovereign plan played out over several Millennia 2. Faithfulness to his promises
Sovereign plan played out over Millennia a) Then the LORD said to him, Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. Genesis 15:18-21 NIV
Sovereign plan played out over Millennia b) On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites. Genesis 15:18-21 NIV
Sovereign plan played out over Millennia c) God said he would allow other nations to take Israel into slavery if they broke His covenant Jeremiah 2:14-25 NIV d) This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Jeremiah 25:11 NIV
e) Seventy sevens are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven sevens, and sixty-two sevens. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two sevens, the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. Daniel 9:24-26
What does God reveal about Himself? 2. Faithfulness to his promises (Ref Hebrews 7-10)
Faithfulness to his promises a) The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Faithfulness to his promises (continued) No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, Know the Lord, because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. Jeremiah 31:31-34 NIV
Faithfulness to his promises b) In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. Luke 22:20 NIV
Faithfulness to his promises c) The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds. Then he adds: Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. Hebrews 10:15-18 NIV
Key Observations Nehemiah s Leadership 1. Nehemiah sought God s will through his word and through prayer Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man. Nehemiah 1:11 NIV
Key Observations Nehemiah s Leadership 2. Act according to your Convictions And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy? And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests. Nehemiah 2:8 NIV
Key Observations Nehemiah s Leadership 3. Have a plan before you act By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King s Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work. Nehemiah 2:13-16 NIV
Key Observations Nehemiah s Leadership 4. Unswerving confidence in God And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests. Nehemiah 2:8 NIV I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. Nehemiah 2:12 NIV
Key Observations Nehemiah s Leadership 5. Expect and address opposition inside and outside The Threat (Neh 4:1-3) When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble burned as they are? Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, What they are building -- even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones! The Solution (Neh 4:4) Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity.
Key Observations Nehemiah s Leadership 5. Another Threat (Neh 4:7-8) But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.
Key Observations Nehemiah s Leadership 5. The Solution (Neh 4:14) After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, Don t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.
Key Observations Nehemiah s Leadership 6. Those with the most often give the least The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors. Nehemiah 3:5 NIV
Key Observations Nehemiah s Leadership 7. Nehemiah s enemies ultimately realized God s role in the rebuilding of the wall When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God. Nehemiah 6:16 NIV
Key Observations Nehemiah s Leadership 8. Nehemiah was a Follower and a Servant
Relevance of Nehemiah today 1. God is faithful 2. To accomplish God s purpose, we need: A common vision Dedicated leaders Willing workers
A Universal Perspective of Leadership Inspiring others to pursue the Right Agenda rather than Your Agenda
A Christian Perspective of Leadership Inspiring others to pursue Christ and to implement His will through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit
True Leaders are Servants Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave -- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:26-28 NIV
"If you want to be great-wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant."
The Drum Major Instinct, February 4, 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Atlanta Georgia