Book of Nehemiah Series #12
Nehemiah Chapters 9 - 10
The Cost of A True Revival
By Pastor Jim May
Nehemiah 9:1-3, "Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them. And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God."
If you were with us in our lesson on Chapter 8, you will remember that the Jews were celebrating the greatest Feast of Tabernacles since the days of Joshua. They had built their booths and worshipped God as a great revival began to sweep the land after the reading of the Word of God and the Law of Moses at the Water Gate. The Israelites were finally coming home again after their long captivity in Babylon and they wanted to feel the presence of God in the nation once again. They were determined to do whatever it took to make things right with God.
Tonight we will continue with that same thought by asking two questions: What did Israel have to do to see God in their midst once more? Would they be willing to go the distance, or would they give up when the price became too high?
In this chapter we have an account of a solemn assembly and a national fast kept by the Jews, which was marked by outward acts of humiliation before God; by confession of sin; by reading the law, and worshipping the Lord; and by taking part in a powerful prayer meeting, conducted by the Levites. In that prayer the Levites celebrated the perfection of God, noted the goodness of God to Israel, acknowledged all of their sins and then committed to observe the Lord’s correction because they knew that God’s judgments are always pure and righteous.
Psalms 19:9, "The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether."
Two days after the Feast of Tabernacles had ended, the Word of the Lord and the celebration of the feast were still having a major impact upon the Jews. The revival wasn’t over yet; in fact it was just beginning.
The first step that we all must take before a revival of the presence of God in our hearts can take place is that we have to learn to humble ourselves, and confess our sins in true repentance. This is more than just a confession of guilt and sorrow at being caught; it is a heartfelt sorrow for having failed in the first place, coupled with a decision and a determination to never fail again by God’s help and grace.
Before we will ever experience the revival, we must call the solemn assembly, with sackcloth of humiliation before God, humbling ourselves in His sight. Then we must “heap ashes” upon our heads, ashes of the fires of repentance; ashes of the sin that has been burned away; and ashes of our self-centered and rebellious attitudes.
The next thing that happened in the land was that everyone who was truly born of the Jews, being a genuine Israelite of the seed of Abraham began to separate themselves wholly unto the Lord.
That’s the kind of revival we need right now; one that will cut us asunder from the world of sin and the things of this life that have us so entangled that we serve them instead of God.
This was no shallow repentance. The process of separation was very costly to many of them. Some of the Jews had married wives of the Gentiles, strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, in direct disobedience to God’s Law. Every one of them was convicted in their heart for their failures when they heard the Law they began to separate themselves from these ungodly marriages. They considered this act of separation as the greatest proof of the truth of their repentance.
Separation from the sin of the old life in the world is one of the primary signs of true repentance. There hasn’t been a true salvation experience, or a true revival of the presence of God in a man’s heart, until you can see an outward change in his lifestyle.
If you come to God at an altar of prayer, wherever that altar may be, seeking God’s forgiveness and repentance for sin, and then get up and go back to doing what you were before without experiencing a change in your heart and life – then there hasn’t been a true repentance at all. Repentance means changing what you think, how you think, what you do and where you will go, so that your life will be an example of obedience to the Word of God and the Law of God. Your whole life will reflect the change.
Have you ever heard that old saying, “It’s not what you say, but what you do that speaks the loudest”? That goes for living for the Lord as well. Your life, your actions, your commitment to the House of God, your love of studying the Word of God, and your desire to be an obedient, profitable servant to Jesus Christ, must be visible to the whole world. The change that happens on the inside will reflect upon the outside. If there is no change in the way you live, then there has been no change in your heart either. It’s time we got back to the altar; started listening to the Word of the Lord; and then let our life be a beacon for others to see Jesus in us.
Most of these Jews had grown up with some bad examples of parents who had mixed with the Gentiles as well. But they realized, at the reading of the Word of God, that not only were their parents guilty, they were too. They realized that they couldn’t blame someone else for what they did. Serving the Lord is still an individual choice and an individual responsibility.
All of the men of the city stood where they were instructed to stand as the Law was being read. Their place was in the outer court of the temple. This was where men used to stand when they prayed and confessed their sins that they might know the mind and will of God, and do their duty.
Every day there was a “Sunrise Service” in the outer court of the Temple. They stood there for about 3 hours, from sunrise at about 6 o’clock in the morning, until the time of the morning sacrifice at 9 o’clock. For three hours they confessed God’s goodness to them and the sins that they had committed against God.
They stood there and worshipped the Lord; bowed down before him in prayer and supplication, and when those 3 hours were over, they didn’t get on their donkey and ride to McDonalds for a big breakfast; they were still hungry for more of the Word of God so they stayed for 3 more hours.
Three more hours passed, the 12 o’clock hour came and went, but “Bro. Shemeel” didn’t check his sundial, or listen to the rumble in his stomach. He knew that the spiritual food he needed was vastly more important than the food for his body. He was in the midst of a solemn assembly and a fast, seeking God’s presence in a greater measure in his life, and that was more important than a “Happy Meal with French fries and a coke”.
So onward the prayer meeting went. For 6 hours they had prayed, confessed their sins, confessed God’s greatness and listened to the Word of the Lord. But that wasn’t enough to satisfy their hunger and thirst for righteousness. It had been a long time since they had felt the presence of God in this manner, and they were still hungry for more so they stayed another three hours. The praise and worship went on and on; and the altars stayed full – not an altar like this bench in our church, but the altars of their hearts. At noon the revival service just kept on going and went on until it came time for the evening sacrifice at about 3 o’clock. They didn’t want to quit then. Oh the presence of God was so wonderful. How great it was to know that God still loved them and was willing to allow them to come to His side once more. They were blessed beyond measure but still they wanted more.
(Can anyone tell me what great sacrifice was given at the time of the evening sacrifice? It was the Crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was that great sacrifice at around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. His death and resurrection shows us the greatness of God’s Love and allows us to be in the presence of God to enjoy the blessings of God.)
Nine hours into this day’s prayer meeting, the Jews were still going strong and hungry for more, so on the meeting went for another 3 hours until the setting of the sun around 6 o’clock in the evening. For 12 hours they stayed, prayed and stood before God, listening to the Word of the Law, confessing their sin, praising God and allowing God to bring a change in their hearts.
A large portion of this 9th chapter of the Book of Nehemiah contains Israel’s prayer and praise before God. They had much to confess in light of the sins that they had done both as a nation, and as individuals. Let’s read through this and see what they had to say to God, and then see the mercies of God and grace of God that is ever present for those who will serve Him.
In Nehemiah 9:4-5 we see that it was the Levites who led Israel to prayer. The Levites were the tribe of Israel that was assigned the duties of working in the Temple, or the Tabernacle, all the time. They were “full time ministers” after a fashion, serving as the priests for the people. From the “tabernacle ministers” came the cry, a shout if you will, for all the people to “Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever.” They shouted to the Lord, “ …blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise”. And onward they went to give a detailed history of God’s greatness and Israel’s sins.
Look what the Lord has done. Look what the Lord has done. We sing the song in our churches, and so did the Jews in this mighty revival that was shaking their land. The words are different, the tune was different, but the feelings in the heart were the same.
Their prayer of praise and worship went like this. Nehemiah 9:6-15, "Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee. Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham; And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous: And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea; And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day. And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters. Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go. Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant: And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them."
Their prayer continues on now but it takes on a little different tone. Instead of praising God for his marvelous works, let’s listen and I think you will hear their confession of the sins of their fathers unto the God who had been so merciful to them every time they sinned.
Nehemiah 9:16-31, "But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments, And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not. Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go. Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not. Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan. Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it. So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would. And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness. Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations. Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours,[judges and deliverers] who saved them out of the hand of their enemies. But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies; And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear. Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands. Nevertheless for thy great mercies’ sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God."
Yes God, we acknowledge that our fathers have sinned greatly against thee. There is no denying it – they got what they deserved because of their own rebellion. But it’s not all their fault. It’s we who have failed you also.
Now comes their own confession of sin and guilt before God and their plea for mercy and forgiveness in Nehemiah 9:32-38, "Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day. Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly: Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them. For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works. Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it: And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress. And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it."
Verses 1 through 28 of Nehemiah chapter 10 contain the names of every man, representing his family and all of those who entered into a covenant of repentance during the revival in Israel. You can read those names for yourself if you desire to.
The remainder of Chapter 10 contains the promises that the Jews made to God of their unending commitment to serve Him and obey His Law. They knew that making such promises carried a heavy responsibility.
They knew what Numbers 30:2 says, "If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth."
They knew Deuteronomy 23:21, "When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee."
Though it would be many years before Solomon would be King in Israel, yet they understood what he said in Ecclesiastes 5:4-5, "When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay."
Thus they knew and fully understood, that to make a vow of repentance and obedience, and vow to serve the Lord in all their ways, that they were binding themselves legally to do what they said or face the judgment and wrath of Almighty God. It was not something to take lightly. It could mean eternal life or death.
So do our promises to God today. Though we might not live under the Law as they did, yet we live under a higher law, The Law of Love. We have a greater measure of the presence of God available to us. We know more of God’s Word than Israel did. We understand more of the mysteries and wonders of God’s grace than they did. So if we promise God that we will serve him, and then go back on those promises, I fear that we will face a greater punishment for disobedience than the Jews have ever faced.
Luke 12:48 says it this way, "But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."
The vows and promises that the Jews made to God begin in Nehemiah 10:29-39, "They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes; And that we would not give our daughters unto the people of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons: And if the people of the land bring ware or any victuals on the sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy it of them on the sabbath, or on the holy day: and that we would leave the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt. Also we made ordinances for us, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God; For the shewbread, and for the continual meat offering, and for the continual burnt offering, of the sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make an atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. And we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, after the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law: And to bring the firstfruits of our ground, and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, unto the house of the LORD: Also the firstborn of our sons, and of our cattle, as it is written in the law, and the firstlings of our herds and of our flocks, to bring to the house of our God, unto the priests that minister in the house of our God: And that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage. And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house. For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the corn, of the new wine, and the oil, unto the chambers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests that minister, and the porters, and the singers: and we will not forsake the house of our God."
What a revival Israel saw! God’s presence in their midst was confirmed. Last week we saw how God manifested His mercy unto Israel by supernaturally re-igniting the fire upon the Brazen Altar. But God wasn’t finished yet. There was more that had to be done. Now that the revival had begun, it was time to go on into a deeper walk with God. That’s where we will continue next week.
What about us? Do we really want to see a great revival come? Are we willing to confess our sins, hear the Word of the Lord and obey that Word? Are we willing to make our promises, and keep those vows, to serve the Lord always and never forsake the ways of the Lord, the Word of the Lord and the House of the Lord again? That’s what it will take for a true revival to come.
I believe that we aren’t seeing revivals in our land because America isn’t ready for that kind of commitment. We love our lifestyle too much. We love our leisure time too much, what little we may have. We love our possessions and our entertainment too much.
But we don’t hunger for the Word of God enough. We don’t desire the presence of the Lord in our hearts in a greater measure enough. Just mention commitment to the House of God and the Work of the Lord and most Christians will quickly fade into the distance because they don’t want to hear it. They would rather live in obscurity and live a life of mediocrity, then face God with the guilt of broken vows than to really serve Him with all their hearts.
It is no wonder that we don’t have a revival sweeping our land today, as it is in many of the poorer nations of the world. We are too satisfied, too self-sufficient and too comfortable with where we are right now. I wonder how much longer God will allow His people to live in comfort in this life, at the expense of their eternal soul? I fear that we are facing some hard days ahead. God’s judgment will come upon us as surely as it came upon the Jews when they broke their vows.
Let’s pray and repent now before that judgment comes. When we get as hungry for God as the Jews were in Nehemiah’s day, and when we will follow their example of repentance, praise, worship and commitment, then we will see the revival come that they saw.
Are we truly hungry for a mighty move of God, or are we just saying so because it sounds good? Is it just words? Are we willing to sell out to God so that the revival can come? Let the Holy Spirit reveal to you right now, whether you mean business with God or not.
