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Apr 23, 2007

Rebuilding Jerusalem

Background:Nehemiah 7 reads the same as Ezra 2. Nehemiah and the Jews have completed the temple, put on the gates and are the city of Jerusalem is ready, but there were few people living in it. God puts it in Nehemiah's heart to call people by their families(Neh 7:4-5) and go through the geneaological records of the families of the Israel in order to settle the families in this rebuilt Jerusalem. The houses within the walls are not yet built so the families called, will have to build the houses within the walls as well(v4).

Lessons:This chapter in Nehemiah 7 taught me some very valuable lessons.

  1. Fill the new place with the rightful owners-(v4-5)wasn't just satisfied at completing the wall of Jerusalem, but he wanted to fill it with the rightful owners of the place so that the city of Jerusalem may be made complete. Our new life as a believer is like this. When we accept our Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord and turn our lives over to Him to make it beautiful, there is His special protection that surrounds us, by virtue of our surrendering our lives to Jesus our Saviour. That protection says "This child belongs to God". I believe God puts a fence around us (remember Job). However, our inside still has been through a lot of turmoil and brokennessand sin (like the city of Jerusalem was destroyed) and all that has to be cleared out and be filled in with new stuff. Its not enough that they be cleared out and left empty, but the key is to fill the inside of our hearts and lives with the right stuff, the Holy Spirit. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and it is essential that we allow the Holy Spirit to work inside our lives(not only on the boundaries/wall) but to rebuilt everything that was broken and lost on the inside and make us complete in our Lord Jesus.

  2. Be watchful about what/who enters the new place-(v61-64)Not everyone who claimed to have descended from Israelites was allowed, but only those whose names were found in the genealogical records. Especially those who claimed to be priests but their names were not mentioned in the records weren't allowed to function as priests. In a believer's life too, Proverbs 4:23 says "Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life." Our enemy will always try to trick us into believing what he gives is genuine but if that is mentioned in the Book of our Living God among the "No Entry" stuff, get rid of them immediately and do not let them take a place as a priest (revered space of our heart).The revered space of our heart only belongs to One Head Priest our Lord Jesus and no one or nothing else.

  3. Completed- "v73 When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns". Isn't it amazing the significance of 7, denoting completion every time it is mentioned. The wall was rebuilt in Elul(6th month) and the people settled in their towns by the 7th month. So they had to work to build their homes (the houses were not readymade there, they had to make it) even so as we work out our salvation, our Living God will bring everything to completion until we are finally settled in our new Jerusalem. So lets work at our houses assigned to us(our lives, our people, our families) "6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. "Philippians 1:5-7

Conclusion: Nehemiah could have stopped at the point when the walls were rebuilt , he would have completed what he had done but the Lord our God put it in his heart to resettle the city of Jerusalem and make it alive and bustling with city life once again. God doesn't leave us saying "Done" when he touches our heart the first time we meet Him, but continues to work in us to rebuild the broken homes within the walls of our heart until the work in us is done. All in order that we may be presentable as a beautiful bride, who's not only pure and pretty on the outside but has a pure, beautiful and joyful heart full of love only for her Saviour and Love.

2 comments :

Sista Cala said...

A loose paraphrase of Philippians 1:6. He that has started the work in you will keep on working in and on you until He returns.
In that I have hope, knowing that I can be a part of a spotless bride.

When you spoke of filling the city w/it's rightful owners, I was reminded of the passage in Luke 11 about when an unclean spirit is cast out of a man. Verse 25 says that unclean spirit comes back to find the place clean and in order. Verse 26 speaks of it gathering 7 more unclean spirits and re-establishing itself in the man. The unwritten lesson is this: The man must fill himself w/the Spirit of God and all of God's goodness so there will be no room for the unclean when it returns.

Karuna said...

Wow, that thought was on the back of my mind constantly as I wrote this lesson, then God is so talkative sometimes I can't keep up with the writing of it all. I am so glad the thought came out to you too, even when I didn't write it. I think I will add it now.