1. Temple Times (vv.1-26)
The chapter begins with a focus on the temple and a list of those who served there. The list includes those who served in the days immediately after the return from exile, as well as the days of Ezra & Nehemiah. The point seems to be that there was unbroken service in the temple throughout the difficult years since. Whatever the conditions of life the church may go through, the reality of God and his covenant never changes.
The temple was always the great focal point for the people in that relationship, being the place where they would go to meet with God and where he would meet with them. The services in the temple spoke powerfully of their need of God and his grace in providing them with atonement and blessing. The great and ultimate fulfilment of the temple is our Lord Jesus and his great work was to build in himself a temple not made by hands.
It is interesting that having focussed on the town in ch.11 the focus is now on the temple. The town was fully inhabited and the temple fully staffed. There is a note of completion here. And we are also reminded of the fact that the walls were not of supreme importance in themselves; they were vitally linked to the temple and functioned as "God's gift for the protection and perpetuation of his name in the world".
It would be good to retain such a perspective upon our own physical resources and structures - to see them as serving the greater gospel realities and not as ends in themselves.
2. The Joy of the Lord (vv.27-43)
Having listed the temple servants, we're now given an account of the great celebration when the wall was dedicated, a celebration whose terminus was the temple itself. There are a number of things to notice here:
i) Structured & Prepared - The event itself was clearly very well structured and carefully planned. Nehemiah divided the people into 2 groups, led by himself and Ezra, and they walked the walls in opposite directions, converging at the temple.
This was not a spontaneous outburst of praise; it was an event whose logistics were complex and well ordered. That tells us something about our own worship and service for the Lord. Some suggest that only spontaneous worship is truly spiritual, that only extempore prayer is real. Some even extend that to preaching - there is no need for preparation, God will lead.
That is to misunderstand the meaning of the word 'spiritual'. Our spiritual worship is the offering up of our very physical bodies as living sacrifices, in ways that are deliberate and planned (Rom. 12:1ff).
There is a place in Christian experience for written prayers; they can help to keep us from becoming narrow in our concerns. It is clearly right to study and prepare to speak God's Word. And the same is true for every act of devotion to God - we are to love him with heart, soul, mind and strength - with our whole being, in ways that are thoughtful and genuine.
We need to grasp that what is structured and though-out is not necessarily any less heartfelt than that which is spontaneous and unplanned. Indeed, it may even be more so.
ii) All the People - The second aspect to notice is that the event included representatives of the whole population. This was an event for the people, not for the professionals. Yes, it included those who were gifted in music and song, and rightly so. But praise is not the sole domain of the musically literate - those of us who are 'harmonically challenged' have a part to play too! And that is what happened here. The people were led but they also played their part.
Serving God is for the whole church. Every believer is to offer their praise to him and all the gifts that God has given are to be used, whether in our daily life or in our gathered activities.
iii) Importance of Thanksgiving - Which leads into what is perhaps the dominant note of these verses - for all that the event was well-planned and inclusive, its great purpose was to praise God and to thank him for his mercy and favour, as seen so recently in the completion of the walls despite all opposition.
We see that so clearly in v.43 where the word for joy is used 5 times. The people's rejoicing was intensive (great joy) and extensive (all groups). As one writer has said, "Joy is the only right response to the perception that God is good".
Joy is to be a dominant note in our Christian experience. It is a fruit of the Spirit's work within us and is a central feature of living under God's reign ("the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" Rom. 14:17).
This event was unique in many ways. Some have compared it to revivals in church history and there are many important parallels. One vital aspect of that is noted in v.43 where we read that the people were "rejoicing because God had given them great joy".
This was not the product of a good music group or the sort of songs they were singing, nor was it down to their being led by leaders with charisma. The people have met with God and he is the author of this joy. For all the careful planning, this is not a worked-up joy but one that is sent-down, from God.
We cannot manufacture revival, nor renew ourselves. But we can learn that a focus on the great reality of God and his grace and obedience to his will, leads to praise that is full and true.
When we give ourselves to God, as they had clearly done in their work in rebuilding the walls and then in giving such close attention to his word, hearing and doing it, God is pleased to bless with the mighty sense of his presence; as our Lord said, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him" (John 14:23).
3. Going on with God
But just as their prior obedience was vital to their knowing the blessing and joy of the Lord, so too it was of the highest importance that this time of rejoicing was followed by further evidence of hearts on fire for God, expressed in obedience to him.
And that is exactly what we see. In vv.44-47, the people give for the services of the temple, as they had said they would. They keep their word in obeying God's. That is then followed in 13:1-3 by their conscious separation from "all those who were of foreign descent", in order to maintain the purity of their worship and the strength of their devotion to God.
When the Lord comes near and blesses us, as we plead that he will, it is urgent that we respond with earnest obedience to his word. He isn't asking or looking for something spectacular but rather faithfulness in the ordinary details of life, expressed here in their giving and living. One writer has perceptively said that "The true gauge of spiritual progress...is the extent to which what might be passed by as 'the normal' has been transformed".
Life with the Lord is not about clinging to experiences of great joy or trying to replicate them; they are a gift from God, even where they are preceded by our obedience. Life with the Lord is about walking in genuine faith and heartfelt obedience to his ways, loving him for who he is, not what he gives. May he help us to so glorify him. Amen.
