Rise Up and Build!

Nehemiah 2:11-20

    11 So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. 12 Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal with me, except the one on which I rode. 13 And I went out by night through the Valley Gate to the Serpent Well and the Refuse Gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire. 14 Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King's Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to pass. 15 So I went up in the night by the valley, and viewed the wall; then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. 16 And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the others who did the work.

    17 Then I said to them, "You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach." 18 And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king's words that he had spoken to me.

    So they said, "Let us rise up and build." Then they set their hands to this good work.

    19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, "What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?"

    20 So I answered them, and said to them, "The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem."

Nehemiah finally arrived in Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls and the house of God.  He first took three days before taking a few good and trustworthy men with him on an assessment tour around the city to survey the work needing to be done.  God had put this desire to build the walls back up as they had been in the time of king a David, a man after God’s own heart, for God put it in the heart of Nehemiah to repair what the consequences of rejection of the LORD had brought upon the nation.  At this point he had not revealed what God had tasked him to do, not even his people, the priests, or leaders, not even those who would be laboring in the work.  Then he made the announcement to rise up and build after reminding them all of the distressing state of the city lying in its ruin, and the taunting reproach from their old enemies surrounding them who had formerly been subjugated to Judah there.  He encouraged them with the good news of God’s hand upon him to oversee the work, despite the opposition of the adversaries of the Horonite, the Ammonite, and the Arab.  These enemies ridiculed them with despise and slandered them as traitors against the king of Persia, knowing that the letters of transit and supply came from him, no doubt.  Nehemiah‘S answer was one of trust, of faith, in God’s Call and enablement to prosper the work until its completion.  He reminded the adversary that they had “no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem.”  We learn that when God calls us to do a task, including above all the work of the gospel to preach and make disciples, along with assembling into churches and teaching them all things in follow up and discipleship on the foundation of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:10-11), that He will provide the means and ability to complete the task (Philippians 2:13).  All those who have a part in Christ, the called, chosen, and redeemed, have the heritage, right, and remembrance in eternity in the Lamb’s book of life everlasting with Him, in His very presence!  All others are like the enemies of the Jews surrounding the broken walls of Jerusalem which had fallen due to the sin of His people.  We who are in Christ have been freed from that penalty of sin which destroyed us with a certain judgment in His wrath on our sin, but are now built up in Christ and His merciful grace of an eternally reconciling pardon.  We have the right to New Jerusalem by His word written as our letter of transit from darkness to light, and the power of the adversary (Acts 26:18) to God’s almighty power and provision for the gospel task at hand and before us.  We may be slandered and opposed, but as the universal church in Him, no power can stand against this task, not even of Hell itself (Matthew 16:18).  We bring good news of the work of God in repentance to reconciling reconstruction of the despair of sinful men and women, lost in sin and its destruction brought upon by ourselves.  This is a good work, so let us rise up and build!