Nehemiah 2:11-20
Nehemiah Views the Wall of Jerusalem
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.”
This demonstrates how Nehemiah trusted God to prosper their efforts as he gazed at the broken walls of Jerusalem after three days there, looking around in the darkness at the burned and broken down gates and crumbled stones. Nobody saw him assess the damage, not even “the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the others who did the work.” He then spoke to them all of the adverse situation they found themselves in and reassured them that the hand of God was food on him and had moved the king’s heart to support their work in the face of the opposition of the ungodly of the land who had taken over Jerusalem and the surrounding land while they were exiled in Babylon for seventy years. This encouraged them all to respond, “Let us rise up and build,” and they set their hands to the good work in the grace of God who was with them. The enemy around them mocked the work and accused them of insurrection against the king, either unaware or in complete disregard to the king’s orders to rebuild the city. Nehemiah wisely answered that the God of Heaven would prosper His servants’ efforts because He was behind it all. They, however, had no right to the land or city given by God to His people and therefore would receive no part in the completed work. This is a reminder for God’s people today that only those called out in Christ who are building His house to worship Him as His servants have any right to enter (Isaiah 35:8, Joel 3:17, Revelation 21:27) the New Jerusalem. Only those recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Eternal Life have that right of heritage in Jesus by the inheritance given by His redeeming grace from our exile in the bondage of sin. Those outside that grace will remain there forever with no right granted to enter into (Luke 23:43, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 11, Revelation 2:7, 22:15) the paradise of our Lord God; only those found in Christ and recorded in His book are allowed in the Mew Jerusalem as shown in the picture here of those returning to Babylon in this passage are mentioned by name. God does all the work of our deliverance, our salvation, and He alone guarantees our place inside the walls of the Celestial City to come down to is, the church not made with our hands, but by His. Until then we labor in building this place of worship which is the body and house of the Lord in His strength and work through us (Isaiah 26:12, Philippians 1:6, 2:13, Ephesians 3:20, 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, Hebrews 13:20-21) as we walk and work by faith.
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