The people met
‘When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, all the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel.’
The people met together as one man. They went to the square with a common purpose and with one aim, to hear the word of God. We know this, because they told Ezra to bring out the book of the Law of Moses. This period of history is about 500 years after David and Solomon, the nation of Israel had been captured and sent into exile and then had been allowed to return under the leadership of Nehemiah as governor and Ezra as priest. The walls of Jerusalem had been rebuilt and now it was time to rebuild the spiritual walls of the people. How was this to be done? By reading the word of God, nothing more, nothing less. This spiritual rebuilding could not be done without God and so His word was central. But it wasn’t just a passage or a chapter; the Scripture was read from daybreak until noon about six hours, if we assume daybreak to be 06:00. Would we listen to a 6-hour Bible reading? Not only did they listen to it they listened attentively and stood whilst the Scripture was read. And then they worshipped. What is it that strikes you most about this passage? For me it is the fact that the people wanted this. They were not told to be in the square, it was they who told Ezra to read to them, not Ezra who instructed them to listen. The people wanted to hear the word of God together. They had a corporate loyalty to each other that meant that they wanted every person who could understand to be there in the square to hear the reading and the instruction that followed. They were hungry for their God’s wishes to be explained to them, for God’s instructions to be given so that they could obey. What was the result of their meeting together?
The people heard
After hearing the Scripture
‘Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.’
The people again led the way, they worshipped God and later we read that they had also been weeping as they heard Ezra read. Why had they been weeping? Because they had come into the presence of God and had been shown their sins and their faults. Last week Major Horwood told us of a person that he knew from sometime ago who ‘would have had this mercy seat full’. The person who leads and preaches can only do so much. We can only show the way to God, it is up to the individual to make the move, and it is up to the individual to be prepared to meet with God, to have the courage to meet with God. The Israelites were prepared, they were ready and they had the courage to meet their Lord and it was because of this meeting with God that they were weeping, they were repentant and sorry for their actions and their ignorance of God. There would have been an element of personal repentance in this weeping, but there was also corporate repentance. As a people they had failed God, not kept his commandments, forgotten his past providence. The weeping was a natural part of the repentance that the people felt, but it was not to be the complete result of that repentance, we read in verses 9 & 10
‘Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
10Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”’
The ultimate result of the people hearing God and meeting with Him was joy, after the tears and the sorrow came the joy that can only come from God, that joy that says ‘God has forgiven you’, Nehemiah told the people not to weep or to grieve because this was a new start for them, they were coming to God and having the slate wiped clean, they had come to God as one people for the first time in many, many years and so for the first time in many, many years they were hearing the affirmation of God’s strength, forgiveness and care. The immediate result of this was…
The people acted
‘Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.’
They celebrated, they partied, they enjoyed themselves, and they had food, sent food to those who had none. They had a good time. The next day, the heads of the families met with the priests and leaders to study the word of God and it was then that they re-discovered the feast of Booths. Ezra was their priest and scribe but he didn’t know about it, Nehemiah was their governor but he didn’t know about it. The knowledge was only found when the family heads met to study and from this the celebration of God was re-instated. This was to be a seven-day celebration of God (Leviticus 23: 37 cf), and it was a celebration of God. Parties have a tendency to get out of hand; this one didn’t because each day started with Scripture before the people feasted. The Book of the Law of Moses stated that this was to be a celebration of God and to make sure of that God was given first place, he was the centre, the meaning of the event and after all this was done the people again met together on the eighth day.
Conclusion
The Old Testament is often seen as dry and dusty. It is often described as showing a blood thirsty God and that it has no relevance to us as we live in the New Testament age. Yet just looking at this one chapter from Nehemiah we can see that this thinking is wrong, that we have so much to learn from the Old Testament. The people met together as one person, how often do we hear of congregations that are divided by personal prejudice, long standing rows, stubbornness, pride? If we are split how can we meet as one person? We need to meet here with a common purpose and aim and that purpose has to be to meet God and to worship Him. The Israelites heard God, do we? Do we come here each week to seek God and to listen to His voice, together, or are we here to get what we can out of the meetings? If we get nothing is that down to the leaders or to the attitude that we come here with? If we come with hearts that are open and have the courage to keep them open, then we will meet with God we see people come to God in repentance, we will hear weeping, see tears on the mercy seat. Not only tears of sorrow but also of joy as people find forgiveness, as they find their slate wiped clean. If we come as one person into this hall and we see people find God for the first time, or again, then great will be our celebration? The Israelites had to be reminded that they could be joyful, that they could celebrate and rejoice; it is my opinion that we as an organisation need to be reminded of the same. People finding God is the best reason to be happy that I can think of and there is nothing wrong with celebrating it. But as well as meeting together and hearing God together we need to act together. All the parts of the body work together in unison, all the parts of this corps of The Salvation Army need to work together if we are to see people come to faith. There is so much to learn from this one chapter of Nehemiah, but the greatest lesson is, perhaps, that it is not only up to the leaders to meet, hear and act. Each of us has a responsibility to the whole; each of us has a responsibility to the body of Christ. This morning, I would like us to move our chairs, not far, but so that we can sit in groups and pray in groups. I want us to pray for this Corps and the people that make it up. That we will be open to God and his leading, that we will come here to worship together, that we will be willing to act together to glorify his name. If during this time you want to come as a group, or pairs, or as individuals, to the mercy seat to offer those prayers then please do.
