Arise And Build

Historical Background

Because of King Solomon’s sins, the kingdom of Israel split into two parts. The northern tribes were ruled initially by Jeroboam and the southern tribes (Judah and Benjamin) were ruled by Rehoboam. Both kingdoms continued to be characterized by idolatry and immorality. And as God had forewarned, He judged all Israel. The northern tribes were taken into captivity by the Assyrians. Years later, those in the Southern Kingdom were deported by the Babylonians.

When the Medes and Persians captured Babylon, many of the children of Israel began to return to the land of Canaan. This happened approximately seventy years after their deportation.

The first group returned to Judah under the leadership of Zerubbabel in approximately 536 B.C. In spite of tremendous opposition from the Samaritans, they eventually succeeded in rebuilding the temple.

Ezra led a second group of Jews back to the promised land (see Ezra 7:1-10) nearly a century later. When they arrive, they discovered that those that had gone on before them and the children that were born during this time were in a state of spiritual and moral deterioration. They had intermarried with the unbelieving people in the surrounding nations and were engaging in horrible idolatry and other pagan practices.

Ezra faced the problem head-on and began to teach God’s laws. As usually happened, when God’s people are faithfully taught His will, they began to turn from their sins.

Ezra’s ministry set the stage for Nehemiah’s appearance in Israel. Under difficult conditions, he challenged the children of Israel to rebuild the walls of the city and eventually led them to reorder their spiritual, social, and economic life—a miraculous accomplishment.

This is the story of the rebuilding of the walls round about Jerusalem under the leadership of God's man, Nehemiah. Nehemiah has received a commission from the Lord to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem that were decayed and broken down and fallen, leaving the people of God without defense and leaving the people of God in despair.

I want you to notice with me six principles that Nehemiah practiced in building the walls.

The very first thing he did was to fix his focus. Look if you will in verse twelve of chapter two: “Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem…” Nehemiah had a mandate from God. Nehemiah was a man who knew how to get alone with God and if you read in chapter 1 you will find something about his character, he fasted, he prayed, he wept, and God had told him what to do. Have you done that? Have you gotten direction from the Lord? Or have you just been wandering aimlessly like a ship without a rudder, like a ship without a compass or a ship without a sail? Are you just putting yourself in neutral and letting life push you around? Or, do you have a focus, do you have a goal, do you have direction? Do you know what God has for you to do individually and do you know what God has for you to do as a church? I am here to tell you, God has a plan for your life, and God has a plan for this church. God has something that he wants you to do and He has a direction He wants this church to go in. What we need to do is find out what God’s direction is for us individually and then for us as a church.

You are special to God. God has a job for you to do and the same God who has called you is the God who's equipped you. You can't do what I do; I can't do what you do. You can't do what others do. They can't do what you do. But I want to tell you; God has a job for everyone. God has a plan for every life. And oh, I would to God that you would get alone and fix your focus on that plan to find the will of God for your life.

Too many people are simply drawing their breath and drawing their salary. They don't have a plan, a goal. They get up in the morning, gulp down a cup of coffee, read the funny papers, fight the traffic to work, go to work all day, come home, take an aspirin, watch the news, eat their dinner, watch a little television and go to bed. The next day, it starts all over again. That's their life. Oh, my dear friend, God has something greater for you. God has something more wonderful for you. What are you doing? Have you fixed your focus on the purpose of God?

God has a plan for this church. So many churches are not focused on the right thing. Many churches are focused on self and taking care of self when there is a world out there that is lost. His plan involves reaching as many as you can with the message of the Gospel and seeing as many get saved as you can. How you do that is something you need to pray about and get His direction on. As a church you need to focus on God and find out how He wants you carry out His plan of reaching the lost.