09 From Rubble to Rejoicing: How Nehemiah Celebrates God’s Restoring Work (Nehemiah 12)

Krisan Marotta: Good morning. This is the Wednesday in the Word podcast. Thanks for being with us. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is our series on the Book of Nehemiah. Today is the ninth talk in our series, and we will be covering Nehemiah Chapter 12. You can follow along with the lecture notes on our website by going to wednesdayintheword.com slash Nehemiah9. Glad to have you along. Nehemiah Chapter 12 today. Oops. We've reached the end of the book. Well, almost the end. Pretty close. It ought to end with chapter 12 in some ways. I want to take a minute to review where we've been, just to kind of put all this in context. So you I think in the beginning of your handouts there's this chart. You might want to look at that. That's kind of what I'm going to be reviewing from. It's uh I'm kind of a visual learner, so I love these kind of charts. I always it should be in your homework book. Uh it's probably the second or what page is it? Second page? On the back of the calendar. On the back of the calendar. Um I find these things helpful. Whenever I finish a book, I always make up some kind of chart just to remind myself that I did it, and also so I can say, look, I did it. You know, I really studied it. Um so let's just review, because I want to put all of chapter 12 in this context. When we meet Nehemiah, he is caught in the tension between two worlds. Remember, he was cupbearer to the king, and he was kinsman to the exiles. And as cupbearer, he was uh an advisor to the most powerful man in the world at the time, politically. And he had education, wealth, position, influence, status, and all that comes with living in the palace of the of the greatest king on earth at the time. And yet he's related to the exiles who have gone back and are living in Jerusalem and it's dangerous, and they're in despair and they're brokenhearted. So he prays. What how should he respond to this? He spends four months trying to decide, should I stay, should I go? And of course, he decides at the end of that time that God's calling him to leave. So, chapter two, Nehemiah faces three moments where he has to rely on the word of God to uh speak out boldly. Once when he goes before the king to request permission to leave, then when he gets to Jerusalem and he finds this kind of broken-hearted people, he has to motivate to uh attempt this impossible task. And then he faces also the voices of his enemies who say there's you know no way you can rebuild the walls. And in each of those situations, he turns people back to God and relies on what he's learned about God to get him through. So in chapter three, then we see a picture of this community starting to come back together. And the main point is that we began working as a body, everyone having their place and their gift, and serving or working on the broken wall in front of their house. So starting with the door that God has opened to them, the thing that's most obvious. And you see, and then in chapter four, they're where they're working in pairs, and one person has a sword and one person has a spear, and they're taking, they're helping each other. So in chapter four, we see the opposition they face from their enemies, from the surrounding nations, ridiculing their work and and threatening to attack them. And we see Nehemiah giving them this example of godly leadership by speaking to God about the people and their needs, and then speaking to the people about God and teaching the people to trust and fight. So trust God and step out on that trust, not to follow Nehemiah, but to follow their God. And then chapter five records the problems they were having internally, how they weren't getting along with each other. So we see in that chapter the wealthy are taking advantage of the poor by charging punitive interest and keeping them in indentured servitude, and Nehemiah rebukes them for their actions, calling them back to fearing God as opposed to fearing man or looking out for themselves, but to let trust that God will look out for them. And then in chapter six, we see three times where Nehemiah's enemies seek to kill him, and each time he resists that temptation because he understands who he is before God, that he is not the important one, that he's not um he's not too full of himself. He knows that God's the one who's ultimately fighting the battle, and that God is fighting for him. So in each of those three situations, he resists the uh temptation, and his life is spared because he knows that God is the one who's in control, not him. In chapter 7 and 8, then um the people ask Ezra to teach them the Bible so that they would know and understand God. At this point, the wall is finished, the city is safe, but it's not yet alive, and so the people seek to bring back that community by seeking to know their God. And they spend about eight days uh going through the scriptures, and it produces this great grief over their sin, but also this tremendous joy over their salvation. Their response to that is then chapter 9, the prayer, and it recounts God's dealing with his the hit the whole history of Israel up to this point, and the main point of that was the people were faithless, but God was faithful. So over and over we turned our backs, uh, we were stiff-necked, we refused to listen, we didn't remember, but God was gracious and compassionate and remembered. In chapter 10, then they make a vow involving three areas. The point, all the point about each of them was designed to keep God at the center of their lives. So they're expressing their love for God and their hope that they will continue to keep Him at the center of their lives and not uh turn away again. So then in chapter 11, the city is repopulated, the people are in place, uh, they have a lottery to encourage people to draft people actually to come back to live in the city. Some people volunteered and others had to be drafted, and so now you see them back in place. So 1120 ends with the rest of the Israelites with the priests and the Levites were all in the towns of Judah, each on his ancestral property. So there's this tremendous, kind of almost a small statement, but we're back in the land, they're living on their ancestral property, the walls are up, the city is safe, and the exile has truly ended. And so at this point, what do we expect? And they all lived happily ever after, right? I mean, that's probably the best known phrase in the English language, and we've seen this same pattern. You know, if you I'm sure you've learned in your English classes that all stories follow this initial struggle and conflict, and then there's some great intervention and resolution, and then you get, you know, the homecoming and the celebration. So the prodigal returns home to a feast, or Dorothy makes it back to Kansas, or you know, the House of Bricks is too strong for the big bad wolf, or you know, all the stories Lu Khan and Leah conquer the evil empire and return to their big celebration. The prince and princess, you know, declare their love and they live happily ever after. And in many ways, that's kind of what we expect with Nehemiah because it follows the same pattern. You have this initial conflict, this great task that is accomplished, uh, this uh resolution, and now um we expect the happily ever after. And that's actually how the story's gonna go, but the happily ever after is not yet. It is coming in the age to come. But what we have in Nehemiah is this witness to the fact that God restores what's broken. And the story begins with a city that is destitute. We're told they're in great distress. Nehemiah travels, you know, and takes this midnight ride, and now we've come full circle to this city that's repopulated and alive. And the main point of this is God has restored them. What was broken, what was shattered, he has put back together. A people that was lost and scattered, he is brought back into a community. People that were dispersed through the exile are now back on their ancestral land, and the people have rediscovered their God, they vow to follow him. And so in chapter 12, what we get is this great celebration. And they're going to make a circuit of the walls again, like we did in chapter 2, only it's very different. So I just uh flip back to chapter 2 for a minute. I want you to have that in your mind when we before we read chapter 12, because I want to compare the two rides. Remember, this is right after Nehemiah has returned to the city. He hasn't yet told people what he plans to do, and this is in 211. I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days, I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on. By night I went out through the valley gate toward the Jacko Wall and the Dungate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down and its gates which had been destroyed by fire. Then I moved on toward the fountain gate and the king's pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through. So I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally I turned back and re-entered the valley gate. So keep that picture in mind. You have in chapter two this solitary rider, he starts with a few men and then it gets the going, it's too tough, so it's just him, and then there are places where even he can't get through. It's midnight, it's a secret mission, it's um, you know, he's kind of alone and he's looking at brokenness, and now we get 40,000 people parading in broad daylight, singing God's praises and with great joy. And we expect, and they all lived happily ever after. And in some ways, the story opt in here, you know, it's 12 chapters, 12's a good biblical number, it's even, you can divide it up, and everybody teaches 12 weeks, you know. Nobody teaches 13. That doesn't fit in our calendars. Um, but we have chapter 13, and you'll see if you've skipped ahead, the story doesn't quite end how we expect. I almost combined chapters twelve and thirteen, but I decided in the end that I didn't want the lessons of twelve to get swallowed up in thirteen. Because in many ways I think it's the point of twelve, if we learn that, that gets us through the pitfalls that we're going to see in chapter 13. So the main point of chapter 12 is that God is a God of restoration and he's good at it. He makes beautiful what was once ruined, and it lets us participate in that plan and to celebrate his work. So let's look at chapter 12. I'm going to, it opens with yet another list of names of the priests and the Levites and everyone who's living there. So skip down to verse 27. I'm going to skip all the names for the moment. So 1227, at the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps, and lyres. The singers also were brought together from the region around Jerusalem, from the villages of the I can't pronounce that, Net Tophalite something, from Beth Gogal and from the area of Geba and Amzabeth. For the singers had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem. When the priests and the Levites had purified themselves ceremonially, they purified the people, the gates, and the walls. So he's pointing out that the Levites are here because they were the tribe that was given responsibility for the spiritual leadership of the nation. Priests would come most often from the tribe of Levi. Ezra, who was a scribe, was also a Levite. And here we find that the singers and the musicians also came from the tribe of Levi. So when they were looking for worship leaders, they went back to this tribe. And the reference in 29 to the singers building villages is the idea that they're building like tents or temporary shelters. So the picture is that there were so many of them coming for this celebration that they didn't all fit in the city, and so they had to build these temporary tent-like things around the city while they prepared for the celebration. So they're, you know, they're practicing, they're rehearsing, they're probably writing lyrics. There was probably a lot of, you know, tuning and planning. But the point I want you to notice is they aren't just rehearsing to rehearse, they are determined to celebrate God. So notice verse 30. When the priests and the Levites had purified themselves ceremonially, they purified the people, the gates and the walls. I think the point of that is they're not just playing music to play music, or they're not just striving for excellence or, you know, rehearsing to be the best. They want to celebrate what God has done. They're purifying themselves for worship because that's the point of what they're doing. They're putting God first. I'm sure there were people there with exceptional musical gifts, but the purpose was to thank God for what He's done, not just to show off, here's my gifts, or here's my talent, or whatever. So they have a goal in mind. And that's interesting to me because that's, I think, solves a lot of the problems we get into over musical styles or preferences, because we, you know, we squabble over which music is best and what type of music is most worshipful, and how slow should it be, or how fast should it be, and we kind of compete for who's best. Now, I'm not very musical, so I'm guessing because Bible teachers do this. You know, we compete for who's the better teacher and who should get more time up front and who gets to teach the best passage. So I assume that music people probably do the same thing. Um there's a saying about Bible teachers that they're like manure. If you spread them out across a field, everything grows. But if you put them all in one spot, they stink. Because we fight and we squabble over who's the best or who got that minutiae of doctrine right or wrong. Um and I I'm not uh I imagine music people have the same kind of squabbles, I suppose, over first tier, second tier, and who's the best, or who rehearsed and who didn't. Um and it's so when somebody new comes to town, there's this kind of ooh, how do they gonna fit in, especially if they have a different style or approach? So how do we get how do we get through all those squabbles? Well, one thing to remember is that the purpose of it all is to glorify God, is to thank him. It's not to be the best or to show that I'm a better teacher than someone else or I'm a better musician uh than someone else, but to thank God for what he's done. Every time I start getting into that kind of mindset, I have two stories. I remember that God gave me this lesson in a very kind of pointed way. Many of you probably remember Diane Balch. She moved here a few years ago, and she's a really excellent Bible teacher and very popular retreat teacher and very kind of famous within the PCA. She does a lot of retreats. She's since moved away. But um this was on my 40th birthday, and I was feeling kind of a little odd, blue about turning 40 and wondering, you know, if life is over. And God gave me a present. I got a call from a woman named Kathy who was from a church in North Carolina, and she asked, would I consider speaking at their retreat? And I was like, this is great. You know, this is my birthday, and God's giving me this gift. And so I said, I'd love to do it, and she said, Great, we're desperate. We've asked everyone we know, and we finally got your name. I was like, okay, I can do that anyway. So I said I'd do it, and a couple days later she called me back and she said, I'm sorry, I have bad news, because while I was talking to you, there was another woman on a retreat committee who contacted someone else who's local, and they decided that they wanted to go with the local person. And I said, Well, okay, I understand. That makes sense, you know. And she said, But we're already planning for next year. So of course, I'm like, oh, great, then I can say my retreat speaker booked a year in advance. And she says, Do you think Diane Baltz would do it? So well then she realized how that must have sounded, you know, because maybe the choking back tears or something tipped her off. And she said, no, it's it's just that a couple of ladies on the committee have heard her, and we wanted someone really good. Now I feel better. So that is true. I did not make that up. And unless you think I did, I had another God must have thought I really needed to learn this because a couple years later I got a call from a woman named Trina, who's from a church in Suffolk, Virginia, and she asked if I'd speak at the retreat, and I said, Oh, I'd love to. And she said, Well, she had spoken at the retreat the previous year, and the committee had asked her to speak again, but she didn't want to because, and I quote, it's not a good idea to follow a really good retreat speaker with another good speaker. Because you just get your expectations too high, and you can't meet it. So she wanted me to do this year and then she'd do next year. You know, she wouldn't have that problem. So after swelling my pride, I said, okay, I'll I'll do it. And she asked if I'd send her a tape, and we were doing um the Elisha stories. Remember, Wednesday in the Word? I don't know if some of you are probably here. And so I just sent her whatever the last Elisha story was. And about a month later, she called me back and said, Well, we we listened to your tape, and could you do something a little more entertaining, you know, maybe not on the Bible, or not not so much like a Bible study? And I didn't know what to say, and she said, Well, it's just that we on the speaker we might actually enjoy. I was like, okay, so I said, you know, I don't think I'm a good match for your group. Um so uh anyway, every time I start thinking too much of myself, I remember those stories. And by the way, if I thank you all for coming back every week lately, it just amazes me that you do. It's my birthday. It's in January. Um anyway, all of that is to say God gives us differently. Different teachers are going to appeal to different people, different musician music styles appeal to different kinds of people. And when we start to get into that bickering over who's the best or who's right or who should be, you know, which teacher's best or which musical style is best, then I think we're asking the wrong question. We want to go back to asking the question: are we doing this for God's sake? Are we doing this to thank him? Are we doing this for worship and to um reflect what he has done and thank him for what he's done? And that puts it all back in perspective. And all the principles we've talked about, godly leadership for through Nehemiah, they all apply to our music leaders as well. It's not, you know, just elders and deacons, but people, committee chairs, music leaders, worship leaders. Um the point, you know, is to learn more about God than, you know, to showcase our gifts. So, what happens after all this rehearsing and planning and prayer and organization? Let's go back to Nehemiah. In verse 31, you see the groups divided into these two humongous choirs, one's led by Ezra, and they start on top of the wall, the other group's led by Nehemiah, and they go opposite directions until they meet at the temple again. So, 1231. I had the leaders of Judah go up on top of the wall. I also assigned two large choirs to give thanks. One was to proceed on top of the wall to the right, toward the Dungate, and then he gives all the names of the people that were leading that group. Uh skip down to 36. With musical instruments prescribed by David, the man of God, Ezra the scribe led the procession. At the fountain gate they continued directly up the steps of the city of David, and on the ascent to the wall, and past the house of David to the water gate on the east. The second choir proceeded in the opposite direction. I followed them on top of the wall, together with half the people, past the tower of the ovens to the broad wall, over the gate of Ephraim, the Jeshua gate, the fish gate, the tower of Henel, and the tower of the hundred as far as the sheep gate, and at the gate of the guard they stopped. The two choirs that gave thanks took their places in the house of God, so did I, together with half the officials as well as the priests, and he lists all their names, and tells us who the choir sang under the direction of Jezariah, and then in 43, and on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away. That's a really amazing scene. I mean, think about you know a Charlton Heston movie and what this would look like with all these people parading on the wall with their instruments and their voices, and you know, with the music leaders in front and all the people following, and the sound of their joy can be heard far away. And I imagine, I mean, if you start thinking about it, it probably started out kind of, you know, sophisticated and uh some measure of decorum, but I imagine it didn't stay that way very long with just that number of people. I would imagine it would, you know, they're they're getting farther apart in distance, they're singing across this expanse of the city. Eventually they're probably going to get off from one another and you've got all these children around, so it's probably going to get into more of a rollicking kind of fun thing as opposed to organized. And as Libby mentioned, I don't you wonder what they sang about? I mean MMI wrote down all these names. Why didn't he write down the lyrics? You know, or tell us which Psalms, if they sang psalms, which ones did they sing? Or if they wrote special music, what, you know, what did they write? I would love to know what the lyrics of the songs were. But we don't have any there's nothing recorded. There's nothing in you know tradition or history that says what they sang about. But we do have a couple of clues. Verse 27 says that they were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving. Verse 31 makes the same point. I assigned two large choirs to give thanks. And in case we missed it, verse 40 says the two choirs gave thanks and then took their places in the house of God. So whatever else they sang about, they were giving thanks. So you have this incredible party atmosphere but it's not just a party it has a point. The point is to thank God for what he's done. And they end up at the temple not just having fun for fun's sake but joy for God's sake for what he's done and they offer sacrifices and they worship him with delight. And I think the point of the parade the songs and the celebration was to give thanks. All their music and all in that when it all comes down to it was to thank God for what he's done. Now notice what happens next I thought this is kind of an interesting addendum in 44 at the time men were appointed to be in charge of the storerooms for the contributions first fruits and tithes from the fields around the towns they were to bring into the storerooms the portions required by the law for the priests and the Levites for Judah was pleased with the ministering priests and Levites. They performed the service of their God and the service of purification as did also the singers and gatekeepers according to the commands of David and his son Solomon. For long ago in the days of David and Asap there had been directors for the singers and for the songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. So in the days of Zarebubble and Nehemiah all Israel contributed the daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers. They also set aside the portion for the other Levites and the Levites set aside the portion for the descendants of Aaron. So the next thing they mention is their tithing their giving what's required in the law. And that's an interesting thing to note because just a few chapters ago we were told what economic distress they were in that there had been a famine and that the rich were abusing the poor and that they were charging interest and they were in indentured servitude so what happened? I mean I don't think they suddenly struck oil you know and now and now they're giving generously but what's happened is their hearts have changed. When we met them in five and in chapters four and five and six they were discouraged and brokenhearted and their God was too small and they didn't trust him. And now they've been seeing him accomplish this great work they've gone through the scriptures they've met him in there they've prayed they've they've vowed to make him the sinner of their lives and the response of that is to give because they want to be continue to be taught they want to continue to keep God in their lives and to do that they have to have the singers the priests the Levites and the people serving the temple. And apparently their giving is enough that now they have to appoint people to keep track of it all. In verse 44 they're appointing people to sort it all out and keep it organized. So there's no indication that there were any sermons on giving or any effort you know to try to get people to to think about giving or tithing but I think what's happened is they've been used by God they've met God they want to continue to know him and as a result they're giving because they want to be they want to keep God in their lives and to do that they have to support their teachers and their singers and their Levites and gatekeepers and so on. So part of the response to God in their lives is this joyful celebration. The other part is they give what they have and there's enough of them I guess there's enough to keep it all organized. So the last point I want to make about this section is in verse 43 the sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away now commentators have pointed out and I think rightly that that's kind of an interesting subtle point. It doesn't say the sound of their music or the sound of their singing it says the sound of their rejoicing could be heard. So presumably what people heard was the music and the noise and if you have that many people singing in unison I'm sure it can be heard at a great distance but verse 43 records that it was the sound of their rejoicing that it was the content of what they were singing about that they were so grateful and celebratory that it was the joy that was that carried through that sound not just the words and that I think is a is a good thing to keep in mind because that's the end of the restoration process. God is taking us to a place where we will celebrate and he's promised that in the end he's going to fix what's broken in our lives. The end of the story is that we will live happily ever after not this side of heaven necessarily but the other side. The end of the story is there will be a new Jerusalem descended from heaven better than anything Nehemiah and his workers could have built better than anything we could imagine. And you know the Bible describes it as as a bride adorned for her husband in the time when every tear will be wiped away, every wrong will be righted everything that will be restored to its full beauty and potential and I suspect there's probably going to be a big festival then too you know like a wedding reception to end all wedding receptions some exciting picture. And we get a little picture of what it might be like through Nehemiah in his day. God is at work in restoring us and he's taking what's broken and lost and shattered and wrong in our lives and working it toward his good and his glory to make it better. And so that ought to be something we we take time and notice we ought to um you know set take the moments to celebrate what God has done so that people outside can see and hear. So I'd encourage you to think about that when you get through those valleys you know those hard times and when the road in when you come to the end of the road or a task is accomplished whether it's big or small take the time to celebrate and thank God for what he's done. You know if he solves a financial crisis or he brings a new job or someone is restored to health or there's a new child born or a new grandchild or a couple decides to get married or a couple reaches their tenth or their 20th or their 50th wedding anniversary those are all things to celebrate that God has granted. You know a friendship spans another decade or a prodigal son or daughter comes home or a struggling student you know masters the exam and earns their degree or broken relationship is restored. All of that we kind of oh yeah we expect that because we want those things to happen and we we notice and we complain when the road is hard or when when we're in the times where the walls are broken. And I think part of this what this can do is encourage us to take time when those things are resolved to say look what God has done. Mark it with an event you know build a family memory about it around it. Take a photograph or write a song or you know have a special dinner or something to say God got us through this and we want to remember it. We want to thank him. But remember the people of Nehemiah's day weren't singing just to sing, they were singing to celebrate what God has done and that should be the point. So it's kind of appropriate that we're coming up to this as we hit Thanksgiving because that's the the point of their celebration. We want to flavor our celebrations with the Thanksgiving that the reason we celebrate is God has accomplished another miracle. He took a sinner like me and he did something unexpected and wonderful out of it. Or he restored something I thought would never be restored or repaired a relationship or or got you through some crisis. And that's the thing to remember as we go into chapter 13 because as you'll see when we get into 13 it's some years later and they have failed at their vows and Nehemiah comes back to talk to them and we will see that pattern I think repeated in our lives a hundred times through a hundred trials that we face them and sometimes we fail and sometimes we don't and yet God will always be faithful to us and he is in the process of restoring us and and that there are times when we can celebrate that victory. So we gotta we need to hang on to that joy the restoration and the knowledge of who God is when we get into those the struggles that we're going to see in chapter 13. Alright let me close this in prayer and I'll give you a chance to ask some questions. Father thank you that you're a God of restoration that you don't leave us in our sin you don't leave us in our struggles you don't leave us in our brokenness but that you come and meet us where we are and use even our brokenness and our feeble efforts to make us more sons and daughters and people who reflect your name and your character and we pray that you would open our eyes to see what you've done the big tasks the small tasks in our own lives and in the lives of our church our friends and family to celebrate and to be thankful for the ways you're working and the good things you're bringing out even in the midst of the suffering and the struggles. In Jesus' name Amen