Text: Nehemiah 13:1-22
Theme: “God Turns and Returns”
Greetings: The Lord is good and His love endures forever.
This is one of the saddest chapters in the Bible, for it relates Israel’s prompt rebellion against God’s law. The sudden and almost unbelievable totality of the people’s rejection of God’s Word and their wholesale violation of all his commandments.
Today, I would like to meditate on three important things happening in our lives.
God turns the Curse into a Blessing – when we read the Word of God
God turns the emptiness into fullness – when we obey the Word of God
God turns the Disaster into a Prosperity – When we observe the Lord’s Day (Sabbath)
The essentials of the True Discipleship is Reading the Scriptures, Giving to the Lord, and Observing his Day. Then you can experience the blessings, fullness, and prosperity. There is a joy doing all these spiritual activities.
God turns the CURSES into BLESSINGS (Nehemiah 13:1-3).
God turns the curses into blessings when we read the WORD, when we listened to the reading of Scriptures.
Reading: We read in Nehemiah 13:1, “On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people”. On the day means on the day of the Feast of Tabernacles. The book of Moses was the “law” “instruction” or “teaching.” Reading the Torah will be a blessing. “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it, and take to heart what is written in it…” (Revelation 1:3).
Meditating: Psalm 1:2 says blessed is the one who meditates the Law for day and night (Psalm 119:97-103). Joshua 1:8 says ‘meditate it always, and you will be prosperous and successful’. David says, ‘I meditate your precepts and ways of the Lord’ (Psalm 119:15). We should meditate his miracles, his wonders, and his mighty deeds. Publicly reading the word of God leads to understand the will and purpose for all.
God intervenes or Turns: Nehemiah emphasis that God blessed Israel, even though the prophet Balaam wanted to curse Israel. The only agenda of God was to bless Israel. God is able to turn any curse into a blessing. “Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel” (Numbers 24:1). He further did not curse rather blessed Israel in words but given evil counsel to have a cursed life through adultery. The Lord told that ‘Whoever curses Israel will be cursed and whoever blesses Israel shall be blessed’ (Numbers 24:9). Balaam died as a wicked man, as a cursed man. Abraham received the promise that “I will bless those who bless you, But I will curse those who curse you.”(Genesis 12:3).
There are varieties of worship in these days. One group believes Worship must be singing to the exhaustion, playing with emotions and ecstatic situations. Another group believes worship as calm, quiet, no clapping of hands. We believe and practice an acceptable worship in the sight of the Lord.
How to evaluate a worship is an acceptable pattern or not? If a worship leads a person to love God, and His word, and leads you to witness for HIM and win others for God is a true worship. If a worship leads a person to go after a singer, worship leader, a preacher and neglects the WORD of God is a false worship. Worship leads us to God and to His standards laid on the scriptures. Worship changes our attitude and our life styles. It changes our curses into a blessing and leads us to Give HIM.
2. God turns the EMPTINESS into FULLNESS (Nehemiah 13:04-14)
Giving to God is another area of concern in Christian living.
Room was Empty: Please note: “There was a large room, where previously they had stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, and the articles, the tithes of grain, the new wine and oil, which were the offerings for the support of the ministry of God”. There was a large room but the ROOM WAS EMPTY. Hence, the Priests, the singers, the temple servants had gone to their fields and doing agricultural works. Because the people had failed to bring their tithes to the temple. The ministry is neglected, because the minsters are neglected. Nehemiah asked the people, “Why is the house of God forsaken or neglected?” (Nehemiah 13:11).
Misuse of Room: Nehemiah 13:4-9 talks about the ‘Misuse of God’s house and its resources’. Eliashib the High priest (12:10) was in charge of the Temple and the storerooms of the house of God. He was allied to Tobiah (13:4) by friendship, and to Sanballat's by marriage (Eliashib’s grandson had married to Sanballat’s daughter – Neh. 13:28). Tobiah was an Ammonite (Nehemiah 2:10) who is unworthy to enter into the Assembly of God as per the law of the LORD (Nehemiah 13:1, Leviticus 23:3).
The evil that Eliashib had done was that he gave that large room for Tobiah to store up his household things in the house of God. Tobiah was not only present in the assembly but rented a large room, encroached the properties of the Temple. It grieved Nehemiah bitterly. It grieved him because rooms were being occupied by a man who had actively opposing God’s work, He criticized the work. “Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall” (Nehemiah 4:1-3). Tobiah conspired against Nehemiah, sent letters to threaten Nehemiah (Nehemiah 6:17-19). Nehemiah did not spare Tobiah, he threw Tobiah’s things out of the Temple of God. Jesus when he saw the Temple being misused, he threw their things out of the Temple (Matthew 21:12-14).
Room was Full: The lack of giving is a way of forsaking the house of God. In response to Nehemiah’s reprimands, and Malachi’s preaching, Ezra’s exhortation the people began to tithe again (Malachi 3:8-10). Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the storehouse (Nehemiah 13:11), like the days of Kings of Judah (2 Chronicles 31:4-5). Emptiness of the House of God can be turned into fullness by way of commitment of the People towards God, towards God’s house, and the Ministry of God. Your giving to Church and Missions must outlay your giving to charity.
Tithe: I would like to remind you about the Tithes. Some clever robbers (Malachi 3:9) says that TITHE was OT practice, NT doesn’t say anything about it. But remember that Jesus Paid the TITHE as per Matthew 5:17, “He did not abolish Laws and Prophecies but fulfilled it”. He told the Priests and Pharisees: “You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former” (Matthew 23:23).
Deuteronomy 12:5-6 & Malachi 3:10 says bring your Tithes to the BARNS OF THE TEMPLE to overflow. Pay Tithe to God means Pay to the Church, then do justice to the poor, needy. According to Numbers 18:26, Pastors must pay Tithe. Abraham paid Tithe, Jacob Paid Tithe, Israelites Paid Tithe, exiled community Paid Tithe (Genesis 14:19-20, 28:20-22, Leviticus 27:30-32, Nehemiah 10:35-37). Honor your God with your Tithes and offerings, then your BARNS will overflow (Proverbs 3:9-10).
3. God turns DISASTERS into PROSPERITY (Nehemiah 13:15-22)
Your disasters can be turned into prosperity if you honor God by observing his day. Some of us go through various kinds of struggles, debts, burdens, and losses because we do not honour God as we supposed to honour him. Do we respect God and His day? Of course some intellects ask, ‘Are not all days are God’s day?’ The Creation story narrates that ‘God created everything within six days and he rested on the seventh Day’.
Nehemiah straight away asked his people, “What evil thing is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers do this, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” (Nehemiah 13:17-18, Jeremiah 17:19-27, Amos 8:5).
Sabbath (Shavat, “cease” or “desist”) day of holiness. A rest was observed by Jews from sunset on Friday to nightfall of Saturday. God worked six days at creating the world on the seventh he ceased working, and he blessed the day, and declared it holy. The Sabbath reflects God’s pattern of creation. Israel’s redemption from slavery is celebrated. It is a time of rest, refreshment, and recuperation for all God’s creatures.
Sabbath is a day of Rest, Holy Day and Blessed Day (Exodus 20:8-11, Deuteronomy 5:15). The medical emergency was allowed by God through the words of Jesus Christ. The differences between Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15 appear to be insignificant. But a careful reading of Exodus 20:8 “Remember (Zakar) the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.” Contrasts Deuteronomy 5:12 “Observe (Shamar) the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.” It was a perpetual memorial and “sign” (Gen. 2: 1-3, Exodus 31: 12, 17, Ezekiel 20: 12, 20). Rest from daily labour is a covenant between God and His people (Exodus 23:12, 31:12–17).
God miraculously provided a double portion of manna on Friday so that the Israelites would not be compelled to gather food on the Sabbath for 40 years in wilderness (Exodus 16). There are a few sayings in Talmud and Midrash: “more than Israel kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath kept Israel”. It is said: “if you wish to destroy the Jewish people, abolish their Sabbath first.” The prophet Isaiah called to delight (Isaiah 58:13). Give an offering (Numbers 28:9-10, Nehemiah 10:32-33). Church will never prosper if it tramples on Sunday, profaned the Sabbath. Sabbath-breaking was one of the sins for which God had brought disasters upon them.
We can keep the Sabbath day holy by attending Church meetings; reading the scriptures and the words of our Church leaders (Leviticus 23:2-3, Nehemiah 8:8); visiting the sick, the aged, and our loved ones; listening to uplifting music and singing hymns; praying to our Heavenly Father with praise and thanksgiving; writing letters to missionaries and loved ones; and sharing time with children and others in the home. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God’ (Matthew 6.33).
Nehemiah revived Sabbath-sanctification, and maintained the authority of the fourth commandment. Nehemiah rebuked both the merchants and the Jewish nobles for selling, buying, and trading on Sabbath (Nehemiah 10:31).
Conclusion:
1. God turns curse into a blessing, God fills the emptiness with fullness, and God turns the disasters into prosperity, if we honor him, if we give him, if we worship him, and if we observe his day with the beauty of Holiness.
2. Make it a point that you will never Miss AMC while you are in Chennai, if you are out of station make it a point to attend a spiritual gathering. Don’t roam around, don’t be negligent of God’s day and God’s work.
3. Give to AMC more than what you give to missions.
4. At the end of it all, Nehemiah knew he did his best to make the people of God strong, safe, and secure. Beyond that, he also led them to be pure, worshipful, and obedient.
