Opening illustration: What would you hear if you could listen to the sounds at your neighbor’s house on Sunday morning? Would it be the sound of boats being prepared for a day of fishing at the lake? Would it be the sound of golf clubs being thrown into the trunk of the car in anticipation of an early morning round of golf? Or would it just be the snoring of those who enjoy sleeping late on the weekend? In some homes you might hear the scurrying about of families preparing to "go to church."
Let us turn to Nehemiah 8 in God’s Word and learn from the Israelites on what they were up to and how the Word of God revived them …
Introduction: In 587 BC the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem and exiled all the prominent citizens back to Babylon, present day Iraq. In 539 Cyrus the Great, a Persian from present day Iran, defeated the Babylonians and allowed all the exiles to return to their home lands. Since the Persians were tolerant of religious diversity, Temple sacrifices resumed immediately, and the Temple was rebuilt in 515. Between 458 and 398, two important leaders emerged, Ezra the priest and Nehemiah the governor. Together they reestablished religious and political stability in ancient Israel. This passage recounts an event in the restoration of Israelite worship under Ezra the Priest. It is intended for everyone - men, women, and children of the age of understanding. It occurs at a place called the Water Gate, where even ritually unclean people could listen.
After many of the Israelite exiles in Babylon returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the walls of the city, they gathered to hear Ezra read from the Book of the Law given by God through Moses (Nehemiah 8:1). They listened to God’s Word for hours, while teachers among them “gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading” (v.8). When they wept because of their shortcomings, Ezra, along with Nehemiah the governor, told them this was not a time for sorrow but a time for rejoicing. The people were told to prepare a feast and share it with those who had nothing, “for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (v.10). Then “all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that were declared to them” (v.12).
How did the ‘Water Gate Revival’ take place?
1. Desire for God's Word (vs. 1-5)
From morning until the middle of the day, perhaps as long as 6 hours, Ezra read the Word of God; and according to verse 7, the Levites helped to explain it.
• It is amazing to me that throughout all of this, the people continued to pay attention.
• That's a wonder to me since it's hard to keep the attention of my brethren for 30 minutes.
• In reality, a lot of this has to do with one's attitude in the assembly.
• We should always be attentive to what God has to say; the salvation of our souls depends upon it.
We can read from the Bible; we can teach and preach from the Bible; we can have classes in order to study the Bible more in depth; but if we don't pay attention and act on the Word, then how is it going to benefit us?
Here we are shown an example of people who had a deep and abiding reverence for the Word of God.
• As Ezra opened the Word of God, notice, “all the people stood up” – initiated by the people.
• How many churches have you been in where "all the people stood up" when the Word of God was read?
Just think of the souls that could be saved if men would reverence the Word of God as these people did.
• We would have a lot more people making statements like the apostle Paul did: "Lord, what do You want me to do?" (Acts 9:6).
• Those kinds of questions come about when we are confronted by God; and that occurs today through the written Word; even today as people are "pricked in their hearts" (Acts 2:37).
We have good reason to respect and reverence the Word of God – respect for God’s Word. When we think of the importance and blessing of having God's Word in our possessions we should be grateful and thankful, and reverence it!
• How ironic it is that in ancient times the Bible was on scrolls; some of them as much as 27 feet in length when unrolled; so it was not practical for people to possess a copy of God's Word.
• Now the Bible is available in mass quantities. Almost every home has at least one copy, but many do not respect those copies likely because it is so easily and readily available.
• When the copies of scripture were few in number, people longed for it; but when it came into abundance, it lost its appeal.
• As a result, scripture occupies on a night stand or on a bookshelf; perhaps even in a box in the basement; and all the time the owner does not realize the power that is contained in those words.
Illustration: Did you ever have this great thirst for God's Word? Those Christians in China spent literal months and years writing down their own copies of the scriptures. When they couldn't bring the copy of the Holy Scriptures home with them, then they would memorize it. They simply cannot understand that we would have a Bible, perhaps many Bibles, and not read and meditate in God's Word all through the day and night. We are dull. We have little response to God's Word. God wants devotion. He wants us to hold devotion times not from dead tradition but living love. When is your free time? What do you think of when traveling in a car? Did you ever think about how cold our hearts are when we time and time again choose not to hear God's Word?
2. Response to God's Word (vs. 6-9)
Not only was the law read, but if you notice, verse 7 indicates that the Levites explained what had been read so that the people could better understand the law.
• When Philip talked to the Ethiopian in Acts 8:30-31, 35 “So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him."
• The Levites were serving as preachers of God's Word, just as many of us who preach the Word do so every Sunday.
Having heard Ezra read the words of the law, and the Levites explain it, that the people might better understand it, note, "For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law."
• Again, by means of God's Word the people were being convicted of their sins.
• With God's Word having been preached, they were now aware of their sins - which led to a change.
As you read on in the story from Nehemiah, you find that the people rejoiced; and the reason is given in vs 12: "they had understood the words that were declared unto them." When they understood it, then their hearts were particularly touched. We will not get into all the things written in the Books of Moses. Next time we will focus on one particular thing they were specially convicted in. But today, it is sufficient to see that they mourned and wept when they heard what God had expected of them, but they had failed to keep. We should not be surprised when we hear the people of God carried away in tears. They are very sad tears of disappointing our God but they are refreshing because of God's healing grace.
And even better, on the 2nd day the people again heard the Word of God & they responded in obedience. One of the key things that need to be pointed out is what led to this obedience: the fact that they prepared their hearts to receive God's Word.
• They wanted to hear the Word. They were hungering and thirsting for it.
• They wanted to know the will of God and were prepared to comply with it.
Illustration: (a) My concern with this pulpit is not so much the ability to preach but that men who love God and His Word preach it. I want to hear messages of God so powerful that the speaker can but barely control himself with a great praise chorus in the end.
(b) Being in the underground church, we know the difficulty of the language barrier. We know something great was happening that day because God's people were impacted even when they did not fully understand the message because of language problems. The people knew God was there. But when a translation was given, then we see that even a greater understanding came over the people. I am not sure what language they translated from or to. I suppose they read it in Hebrew, the language the OT was originally written and translated to Chaldean.
3. Celebration of God's Word (vs. 10-12)
Perhaps what we least understand is after God's people met God and heard His Word, they were told to stop crying. Now truly, they had greatly sinned. They can look back and see why they had sinned. They read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. They know now why their ancestors were taken into exile. One would have thought that they should have stayed that way for a good long while. After all their sin took a long time, wouldn't they need in penance to weep and weep, cry and cry, mourn and mourn? For every sin they committed, were they expected to cry for 5 minutes. No! This is not what God desired.
Simply put, they were to celebrate. And so the festival went on. God wanted to have a happy people. Happy are those who know their sins are forgiven! Anytime God comes and reveals Himself in special ways, we should celebrate. Even as God's people, we can see we do not desire Him as we ought. We are not thankful as we should be. We are easily distracted. But God doesn't want us weeping all our days. The point of grief is for recognition of wrong doing and the deciding to do right. This is a time of joy when He reveals His Word to us.
• God wanted them to be more aware of His strength than just their weaknesses.
• God wanted them to be instilled with the joy of His presence than just linger on in a sense of shame.
• God wanted them to know what a wonderful thing it is to gain insight into God's Word so they can obey than just to sob over how they have disobeyed.
Simply put, they were to celebrate. And so the festival went on. God wanted to have a joyful people. Joyful are those who know their sins are forgiven! Anytime God comes and reveals Himself in special ways, we should celebrate. Even as God's people, we can see we do not desire Him as we ought. We are not thankful as we should be. We are easily distracted. But God doesn't want us weeping all our days. The point of grief is for recognition of wrong doing and the deciding to do right. This is a time of joy when He reveals His Word to us.
Illustration: When the Nazis took over Prague in the Czech Republic, they rounded up all the Jews. In one of the synagogues, before they torched it, they found an old rabbi sitting in his study, working on his sermon for the next Sabbath. To utterly humiliate the old man, they forced him to strip naked. They had him stand up in his pulpit naked, clad only in his rabbi’s hat. “Say something in Hebrew for us,” they taunted. “Yes, preach to us, preach what you were going to say next Sabbath. Preach.” The old rabbi stood there. Then he began to speak in a Hebrew none of the Nazi tormentors could understand. He spoke the words that had time and again constituted Israel: In the beginning God created the world. And God said, `Let there be light.’ And there was light. And it was good. Power shifted from the cruel Nazis to the old rabbi in that moment. In speaking the word ... just in speaking the words ... the rabbi was assaulting, dismantling all that the Nazis believed. A new world was being claimed, reclaimed by God. Nothing those Nazis could do, not even their reign of death, could defeat the ultimate triumph of the word ... could negate the word’s way with the world. That is the way of God and God will have the last word. For in the beginning was the word. And in the present, the word still is. Heaven may pass … Amen!
Application:
• God wants souls who are willing to prepare their hearts to receive His Word.
• He wants souls who will reverence and respect what His Word say, and obey it!
• We must notice that God is rich in grace and man great in his sin.
• Man might have started looking good and ordered in his city walls, but this did not mean they were right in spirit. God had to do a special work within His people to create the inner soul of the city. This is what He does when He causes us to become Christians. We are born from above. We are made a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new have come.
• He visits His people in special ways in a special way in our lives to accomplish His glorious purposes. They didn't deserve this special visit. Note their sins. But neither do we deserve such a visit. But may God revive us just the same.
• May God come to us as He came to them at the Water Gate. May the rivers of life be poured forth upon us with a stream so mighty and strong, so clean and pure, that we would weep over our sins to such a degree we need to be reminded that it is also a day of great grace.
