WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:03.680 Nehemiah chapter eleven. 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:10.720 I'm going to read verses one and two for us to begin. 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:13.199 The leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem. 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:26.960 The rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while nine out of ten remained in other towns, and the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem. 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:32.719 You know, every culture in the world has some sort of rite of passage. 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:37.920 This is an event that marks a child's transition into adulthood, and everyone goes through it. 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:43.920 And until you do go through it, you are, in many ways in society, considered a child. 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:48.399 And after you go through it, you are considered an adult. 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:57.359 And these passages, or these rites, their rite of passage, I don't know what the plural would be, they serve as a major milestone in life. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:00.399 And they're they vary, of course, culture to culture. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:05.840 It might encourage you to know that in the dark ages, there was basically one rite of passage, that was marriage. 00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:08.799 Until you were married, you were considered a child. 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:12.239 Or you could become a nun or a priest and escape the childhood moniker. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:14.319 But until it happened, you were considered a child. 00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:16.319 Once it happened, you were considered an adult. 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:21.920 And by the way, the typical age for a male to marry in the dark ages was 14. 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:24.000 Girls was 12. 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:28.079 And once they were married, they were out of the house and on their own. 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:34.719 Of course, the average life expectancy back then was 24 for a girl and 26 for a guy, but let's not focus on that. 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:38.640 That was the rite of passage, graduation day. 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:46.879 In Mexico, the passage for females, even to this day, is the quincinera, more elaborate and more expensive than an American wedding. 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:50.879 It marks a change from being a young girl into a woman. 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:54.400 In rural Africa, for a man, it's a hunt. 00:01:54.560 --> 00:02:00.879 For a boy to become a man, he has to go on a hunt, kill a buck, and eat a bite of raw liver. 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:02.400 Yeah. 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:08.400 I think in our culture, the closest thing I could think of is high school graduation. 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:11.520 Slightly less gagging than a buck liver. 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:15.919 It is nevertheless a transition from adolescence to adulthood. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:26.800 High school graduation is marked by sentimental teens, you know, with their arms around each other, singing friends are friends forever, and writing bad haiku in each other's yearbooks. 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:34.719 It is an important transition where you go from being a child to adult and sent out into the world. 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:40.000 You may not know this, but Christians have their own graduation day. 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:43.439 You graduate from this world and you're promoted to the next world. 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:48.879 When you die in this world, you stand before the Lord and you are promoted to your real life in heaven. 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:55.759 Everything that happens here in this world is just preparation for that next world where you really get what the Lord will have you to do. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:59.520 As you reign with him in the kingdom, you've graduated from this world into the next. 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:02.319 And that's the day we're all looking forward to. 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:07.919 This morning in this passage, we have the graduation day for Jerusalem. 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:13.280 Jerusalem had been being built for 90 years, since Ezra chapter 1, verse 1. 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:15.599 It has been 90 years until this day. 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:28.800 90 years since the Israelites had come back into Jerusalem with the focus on rebuilding the city, and they came back with, you know, tens of thousands of people streamed into Jerusalem back in the days of Ezra. 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:34.319 By now the numbers have dwindled and dwindled and dwindled, and they're down to 10,000 or so. 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:43.280 What started out with such hope and triumph, now the city is complete, the wall is complete, the temple is complete, and the city is diminished. 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:44.479 Many people have left. 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:52.800 And so we find in Nehemiah chapter 11 is the striving to rebuild the city, the striving to repopulate the city in light of the fact that it has been rebuilt. 00:03:52.879 --> 00:04:00.560 And so you see here in verse 1, all the rest of the people cast lots to bring out of one one out of ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city. 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:03.520 And nine out of tens lived in their town. 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:09.439 What you're seeing here in the book of Nehemiah chapter 11 is this really, it's a tithe to God. 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:16.240 It's the Israelites looking around and seeing that for the past century, for the past hundred years, they have worked on rebuilding Jerusalem. 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:21.920 Now the temple is done and it has been dedicated, and they wept, they weren't happy with it, but it's done. 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:23.600 Now the wall is done. 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:28.240 Earlier, remember the the naysayers, the opponents said, You'll never build that wall. 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:30.800 You know, a fox could hop on that wall and topple it over. 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:32.399 You guys are wasting your time. 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:34.800 But now the wall is done. 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:37.759 And now people have gone home. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:44.560 Everybody that streamed into Jerusalem to work, all the action we saw through the entire book of Nehemiah, now the book of Nehemiah is coming to a close. 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:47.439 That action has ended, and the people have gone back home. 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:49.519 Do you remember even when they were working on the wall? 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:53.439 They were working on the sides of the wall closest to their houses, even those that live further away. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:56.000 And now the wall is done, and everybody went back home. 00:04:56.079 --> 00:05:01.279 And so they're looking around the city, and the wall's not going to do a lot of good if there's not people living there. 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:04.560 The wall's not going to defend a ghost town. 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:06.079 You need people to live there. 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:07.600 And it is worth asking why. 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:09.519 Why did they need people to live in Jerusalem? 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:10.399 Why do they need the wall? 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:11.600 Why do they need the temple? 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:16.399 Because they understood that for them to have a functioning religion, they needed sacrifices. 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:19.120 For them to have sacrifices, they needed the temple. 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:21.199 That's the point of this. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:35.519 When the Israelites were conquered by the Assyrians and taken into exile, and then Jerusalem fell by the Babylonians and the temple was destroyed, and the Persians conquered, and the Persians were allowing the Jews to come back and rebuild. 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:38.079 They knew they had to come back and rebuild the temple. 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:44.160 They didn't, this whole time, between the time they were conquered and this time, they weren't able to properly worship. 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:46.879 Remember, the Jewish religion is a religion of sacrifice. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:48.480 They have to bring the Passover lamb. 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:50.639 They're making atonement for their sin. 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:53.600 They know they've sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:57.040 They present an animal, the blood of the animal takes away their sin. 00:05:57.120 --> 00:05:59.600 That's the way the whole Jewish religion functions. 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:01.120 You understand that, right? 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:05.439 The law shows them their sin, the Torah shows them their sin. 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:14.639 In order for them to have their sin removed, propitiated, the wrath of God held back and their sin removed from them, there had to be a sacrifice. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:17.360 They can't just say, God, I'm really sorry for my sin. 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:18.879 Please do something about it. 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:26.720 God has to actually transfer the sin from the sinner to a sacrifice and pour out his wrath on the sacrifice. 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:29.519 That was what the Old Testament sacrifices were. 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:34.560 And I know it's very common to say the sacrifices just pointed to the future sacrifice of Christ, and that's true. 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:38.319 All the sacrifices in the Old Testament point to the future sacrifice of Christ. 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:42.720 But the Old Testament, when it describes the sacrifices, never uses the word just. 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:45.519 It never says they just pointed to Christ. 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:49.600 It says the sacrifices were done to make atonement for sin. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:54.160 So the people know they're sinners. 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:55.839 They're feeling the judgment of God. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:57.279 There's no ambiguity about this. 00:06:57.439 --> 00:06:58.800 They have broken God's law. 00:06:58.959 --> 00:06:59.920 God has judged them. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:03.600 The prophets have come to them and said, Hey, you guys are sinning, repent. 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:06.800 And they said, No thanks, and God threw them out of Israel. 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:09.839 So they're very much aware of their sinfulness. 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:15.519 In exile, they're aware of their sinfulness, only they can't do anything about it. 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:18.399 There's no way to remove their sin from them. 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:21.519 There's no Passover lands being offered in the temple. 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:23.199 There's no temple. 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:26.480 There's no priests making intercession for them in the temple. 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:28.399 There is no temple. 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:30.240 There's no priests in Jerusalem. 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:32.319 Everybody has been exiled. 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:33.680 So they really are hopeless. 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:46.800 When you see Daniel throwing open his window and facing Jerusalem in his prayers, back in the book of Daniel, chapter 6, I think, he's not doing that simply to make a political point, like, hey, he said we can't pray, so I'm going to pray facing Jerusalem. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:49.680 He's really placing his hope in Jerusalem. 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:51.519 That city needs to be rebuilt. 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:52.959 The temple has to come back. 00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:55.360 The sacrifices have to return. 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:00.319 Now they are back. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:02.000 Now Jerusalem is rebuilt. 00:08:02.079 --> 00:08:03.360 Now the temple is rebuilt. 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:05.279 The wall is rebuilt to defend it. 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:06.720 Only now there's no people. 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:09.680 And so what you see here is a bit of a draft, isn't it? 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:11.279 It's a bit of a draft. 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:13.759 One out of ten, they're drawn lots. 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:16.399 One out of ten are gonna be forced to go live in Jerusalem. 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:20.879 Ten percent of all the Jews that came back are being sent back to live in Jerusalem. 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:33.519 What was a person's disposition back in the Vietnam era, which I was not alive for, but back in the Vietnam era, what was a person's disposition when they were drafted? 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:35.840 I mean, they weren't stoked. 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:40.159 Many of them fled to Canada. 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:42.879 It's gotta be really bad to make you want to run to Canada. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:45.279 And they fled. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:50.159 Look at the disposition here. 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:56.080 They're drafted, told they have to move to Jerusalem and live in Jerusalem. 00:08:56.320 --> 00:08:58.960 The people blessed those men, and then look at verse 2. 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:00.960 They willingly offered to live there. 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:03.440 We're gonna see in chapter 12, they're rejoicing. 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:08.080 These people are voluntarily, even though they were drafted, they're voluntarily going. 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:13.519 So the image here is not that Jerusalem is repopulated with reluctant or recalcitrant people here. 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:15.279 No, they were okay to go back. 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:18.000 They they they, in a sense, won the lottery. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:25.120 They lost the draft, won the lottery, is the idea that God chose them through this lot, and they are excited about it. 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:26.799 Now, any of them could have gone. 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:28.639 They're trying to get people to go there. 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:30.000 All of them could have moved back. 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:34.320 But the point here is that once the lot fell on these people, they were stoked about it. 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:39.200 They realized this is God's providential hand leading me back to his people. 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:42.399 This is a sacrifice they were willing to make. 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:54.320 Now, what follows here from the rest of chapter 11, which again I won't read all of these names, but it is a long list in chapter 11 of names, and even the start of chapter 12, uh, all the way down to chapter 12. 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:59.440 Uh, we can just jump down to verse 25, 26 of chapter 12. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:08.639 These were in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Jeshua, the son of Josedak, and the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest and the scribe. 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:18.720 So this is the, remember, Ezra came back, he his life was about the midpoint of the book of Ezra, 90 years since the start of the book of Ezra, 40 years since that midpoint back there. 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:21.039 Here they are in Jerusalem. 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:26.799 Nehemiah is the governor, Ezra is their priest, he's been leading the all-day prayer services, the all-day preaching services. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:28.000 That's what's been happening there. 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:31.039 Now they're all back and they are excited to be there. 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:34.000 These two chapters are almost entirely a list of names. 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:45.120 And you might wonder why, you know, why in this book would God devote two whole chapters to a list of names of people that are dead and I don't know? 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:50.799 And that's the answer is because these people made an extreme sacrifice to come back to Jerusalem. 00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:57.360 One reason you should be familiar with them is that you'll be looking at the backs of their heads in heaven. 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:04.159 The idea is that they made a sacrifice for the gospel advancement in the world. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:08.639 The Jews, for the most part, were prosperous in Babylon, they were prosperous in Persia. 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:12.879 After the initial exile, those that assimilated into the culture were prosperous. 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:18.559 You see that for the through the window of the book of Esther. 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:20.639 They were wealthy. 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:22.879 That's why Haman wanted to steal their goods. 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:28.559 Remember at the end of the book of Esther, they wanted to steal the Jews' wealth, they wanted to steal the Jews' goods and possessions. 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:32.000 The God had blessed them even in exile, but they just had no religion. 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:36.000 And so now these people are back and they are excited to be back to Jerusalem. 00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:38.960 Couple comments in the list that we just skipped. 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:41.519 As I mentioned, we started with a few thousand. 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:50.320 The return started at the beginning of the book of Ezra with a few thousand, but by the end of Ezra had grown up to 16,000 that were living in Jerusalem permanently. 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:53.519 Now it had dwindled, as I mentioned earlier, down to 10,000. 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:56.399 The city was shrinking, and that's the problem. 00:11:56.559 --> 00:12:01.919 They were subject to ridicule by those that were around them, and this is, you know, some of it's just normal attrition. 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:07.360 People die or they retire and they move back to where the rest of their family is, the wall job wrapped up and they went home. 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:15.919 But these people are gonna go back, these names listed in these two chapters, they're gonna sacrifice, they're gonna go back to live in what the Bible calls the holy city. 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:19.440 Why is Jerusalem called the holy city? 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:24.639 The answer is because when the temple was there, that's where God dwelt. 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:28.159 Now God's omnipresent, he dwelt everywhere in the world at the same time. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:32.159 But in a very real way, he manifested himself in the temple. 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:33.519 His spirit filled the temple. 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:38.240 If you wanted a more intimate encounter with the Lord, the temple is where the spirit was. 00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:43.919 The holy of holies in the temple is where nobody could just walk in whenever they wanted to, they'd be struck dead. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:48.799 So there's a very real and special presence of the Lord in Jerusalem. 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:50.559 That's why it's called the holy city. 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:53.759 That presence has been removed when the temple was destroyed. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:57.120 Now they're longing for that presence to return. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:12:59.679 They're longing for that presence to return. 00:13:00.559 --> 00:13:03.600 A couple other comments in this list that we just uh skipped. 00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:06.320 In Ezra 2, that list was 14% priests. 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:08.480 I did the math myself, it could be off. 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:12.080 If you were in the 9 o'clock service this morning, you saw how poor I was at math. 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:15.679 I ditched that whole part of the sermon at the 11 o'clock service, so I wouldn't be embarrassed. 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:21.039 However, Ezra 2, I'm pretty sure the list is 14% priests. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:24.960 Now, this list we see in Nehemiah 11 and 12 is 40% priests. 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:29.600 It's by and large the priests that have been brought back, and the priests that are going to stick this thing out. 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:33.759 Most of the list here is two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, which makes sense. 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:36.159 This is Jerusalem, is where those two tribes were located. 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:40.080 But now, by the end of Nehemiah, Benjamin drastically outnumbers Judah. 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:43.919 This is a huge reversal from the end of the uh the book of 2 Kings. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:46.720 Remember, at the end of 2 Kings, Benjamin was the smallest tribe. 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:49.919 They're the tribe that almost got annihilated by the end of the book of Judges. 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:54.639 Now they're the majority of the people are from the tribe of Benjamin. 00:13:57.440 --> 00:13:59.440 The Levites returned by their families. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:05.360 Again, there is a lot more I could say about this, most of which would find you boring, but the you'd find boring. 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:10.240 But the the main point in this is that God protected his line of priests, brought them back. 00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:12.080 Only certain families could be priests. 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:14.639 God had sovereignly and providentially protected them. 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:19.200 Three generations after the start of the book of Ezra, they are now back in the land and back at the temple. 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:25.840 The dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:37.200 They sought the Levites in all of their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to celebrate the dedication with gladness and with thanksgiving, with singing, with cymbals, with harps, and lyres. 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:39.679 This doesn't sound like people fleeing to Canada. 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:42.240 This is a celebration. 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:44.720 Notice the phrase again, to celebrate. 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:47.279 This is a happy day for them. 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:55.039 There is music, there is ceremony, there's singing, there's dancing, there's thankfulness, all kinds of loud instruments. 00:14:55.600 --> 00:15:06.480 The sons of the singers gathered together from the district surrounding Jerusalem and from the village of the Nethephilites, and from Bethgegal, and from the region of Gebah and Asmavath. 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:09.679 For the singers had built for themselves the villages around Jerusalem. 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:15.759 So the singers, remember, were there for the pomp and circumstance here, and they had built little villages of the singers. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:17.600 Singers had to be in a certain family. 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:18.879 It wasn't all vocal skill. 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:20.960 Some of it was your family identity. 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:25.120 The singers are now separated and they're living in villages around Jerusalem. 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:32.960 The priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people, and they purified the gates, and they purified the wall. 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:35.840 Why do they have to purify the gates and the wall? 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:40.720 Because this place had been operated by Gentiles for so long. 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:43.039 Unclean Gentiles. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:45.279 This place was used for idol sacrifices. 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:48.080 This place had been, it was ridicule. 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:49.440 There had been trash everywhere. 00:15:49.519 --> 00:15:51.360 This was not ceremonially pure. 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:53.440 And so now they're dedicating it. 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:55.679 They're purifying themselves. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:58.240 That's the ritual washing and the mikvas. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:02.320 They purified the people on the gates in the walls, verse 30 says. 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:11.360 Verse 31, Nehemiah brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. 00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:16.480 And one went to the south on the wall of the dung to the dung gate. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:44.159 After them went Hoshiah and half the leaders of Judah, and Azariah and Ezra and Meshelim and Judah, Benjamin, Shemiah, and Jeremiah, and certain of the priests' sons with trumpets, Zechariah, the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemiah, the son of Mataniah, the son of Mekaiah, the son of Zakur, the son of Asaph, his relatives, Shemel, Azarel, Meliah, Giliah, Mile, Nathanael, Judah, Hananiah, with the musical instruments of David, the man of God. 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:46.559 And Ezra the scribe went before them. 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:50.399 So again, don't lose what's happening in the list of names here. 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:55.120 There's a massive choir, not one choir, two massive choirs assembled. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:58.080 And did you notice where they were assembling? 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:00.480 On the wall. 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:07.759 If you've been to Jerusalem, and I remember when we started Nehemiah, remember I showed you pictures of this, you get tour groups will walk along the wall today. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:09.440 You can fit people on the wall. 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:10.640 There's wide enough to walk. 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:18.079 And remember, the point of the wall is that you could put you know soldiers up there, but now it's filled with two choirs. 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:20.720 Do you remember what Sandball and Tobias said? 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:25.119 If even a fox stepped on the wall, the thing will crumble over. 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:31.599 Now they have two choirs, choir robes and everything, maybe up there on the wall. 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:36.559 And they're splitting up and an army of trumpeteers behind them. 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:39.200 They're marching around. 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:41.519 Oh, that's what the trumpet is for, isn't it? 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:45.039 They're marching around on the wall, singing. 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:48.319 They split up from the gate where they start. 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:53.759 They're going to split up and go around the city, and the wall, remember, is going to join the temple at two different points. 00:17:53.920 --> 00:18:00.880 They're starting opposite of the temple, they're splitting up and going around the city, and they will reunite these two choirs back at the wall. 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:04.319 They're literally surrounding the city in song. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:08.319 At the fountain gate, verse 37. 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:14.799 They went up straight before them by the stairs of the city of David at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David to the water gate in the east. 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:17.119 The other choir, those who gave thanks, went to the north. 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:21.519 I followed them with half the people on the wall, above the tower of the ovens and the broad wall. 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:26.160 This is the backside where all the bakers will remember when Nehemiah described Reese building the wall. 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:27.599 This is where he started. 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:37.440 Above the gate of Ephraim, the gates of Yeshaniah, and the fish gate, the tower of Hananiel, the tower of the hundred, the sheep gate, they came to the halt of the gate of the guard. 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:41.359 So both choirs of those who gave thanks stood in the house of God. 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:59.440 I and half of the officials with me, and the priest, El Kaih, Messiah, Meniam, Mekekiah, Eloniah, Zechariah, Hananiah with trumpets, Messiah, Shemaniah, Eliezer, Uzai, Jehoannon, Melkaijah, Alam, and Azar, and the singers with Jezariah as their leader. 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:05.279 They offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy. 00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:08.400 See the redundance in that word, in that sentence. 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:10.400 They offered great sacrifices. 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:12.960 They number one, rejoiced, for God had made them. 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:15.200 Number two, rejoice with great. 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:17.039 Number three, for rejoice. 00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:18.640 You get four uses of the same word. 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:22.079 It's translated great there in English, but it's four uses of the word joy. 00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:23.839 Nehemiah is piling this up. 00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:26.640 It is a happy, festive, joyful occasion. 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:28.079 He can't underline it enough. 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:29.119 In fact, he's going to do it again. 00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:30.960 The women and children also rejoiced. 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:34.720 And one more time, the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away. 00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:37.119 Six times in that verse. 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:40.160 This was a joyful occasion. 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:42.480 The priests are back. 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:45.359 Everything is ready for the celebration. 00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:55.599 On that day, men were appointed over the storerooms, the contributions, the firstfruits, the tithes, to gather into them the portions required by the law for the priests and for the Levites according to the fields of the towns. 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:58.880 For Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who ministered. 00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:06.400 They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did the singers and the gatekeepers according to the command of David and his son Solomon. 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:12.559 For long ago in the days of David and Asaph, they were directors of the singers, and there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:14.640 Verse 46 is pretty insightful. 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:20.319 They're singing here the psalms, mostly songs by David and Asaph. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:21.920 And each, this is our book of Psalms. 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:26.640 This is the indication that Ezra the scribe had compiled the book of Psalms by this point. 00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:27.759 They were using it. 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:35.359 This very well could be the first massive corporate use of the Psalter that we have in our Bible now. 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:40.079 They're singing through the Psalms of praise and thanksgiving to God. 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:46.000 And all Israel, in the days of Zerubbabel and the days of Nehemiah, gave the daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers. 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:47.839 They set apart that which was for the Levites. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:50.400 The Levites set apart that which was for the sons of Aaron. 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:54.240 The true priests are back, the true songs are back, the true music is back. 00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:58.799 True worship is returning back to Jerusalem. 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:01.599 Ninety years since Ezra III. 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:07.200 Ninety years since the foundation of the temple was laid, and now it's graduation day for Jerusalem. 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:09.759 Let me give you a couple points as we reflect on these two chapters. 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:16.559 First, sacrifice relates to gospel expansion. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:17.599 Why is there so much joy? 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:21.920 Why the connection between sacrifice and joy in these two chapters? 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:23.599 Because that's the theme here, right? 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:26.640 Over and over again, they're making sacrifices and it's causing them joy. 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:29.759 They're leaving their villages, moving to Jerusalem, it's causing them joy. 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:32.240 Why are sacrifice and joy so connected? 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:35.519 In the world's perspective, sacrifice is opposite joy. 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:39.759 Sacrifice does not lead to joy, but in Christian economy it does. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:41.200 Here's three reasons why. 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:44.720 First, sacrifice relates to gospel expansion. 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:48.160 The temple wall and the city were all important for their salvation. 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:49.359 They didn't know why. 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:50.079 Do you get that? 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:57.200 The people who are marching around singing and playing the trumpets here, they didn't fully understand why the temple was so critical. 00:21:57.440 --> 00:21:59.680 They just knew they were longing for God to dwell. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:02.160 Back with them again. 00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:05.759 There's no way they could have known how ironic their desire is. 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:07.759 They wanted sacrifices to return to the temple. 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:11.920 They're putting their hope in sacrifices returning to the temple without understanding the irony of it. 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:18.640 And I call it ironic because the sacrifice that takes away the sins of the world is not the 200,000 lambs sacrificed every year there. 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:22.160 The sacrifice that takes away the sins of the world is the one lamb who will come. 00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:26.000 And when he comes, he drives out all the money changers from the temple. 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:28.720 He drives out all the sacrifices being sold there. 00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:31.839 He turns over the tables and purifies the temple. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:35.039 What they did here to the wall, Jesus does in the temple. 00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:37.200 And he becomes the ultimate sacrifice. 00:22:37.359 --> 00:22:39.839 Their hope, they're seeing it dimly. 00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:44.000 You know, they're looking into the future, they're looking for their Savior to come to the temple. 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:50.000 They don't know how all the pieces are going to connect, but it is true that the Savior will come to the temple. 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:53.440 And he says, hey, tear this temple down, I'll rebuild it again in three days. 00:22:53.599 --> 00:22:58.160 Speaking of his own body, Jesus himself would be the temple. 00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:03.759 And of course, when you come to faith in Christ, you're united to Christ through the indwelling of the Spirit. 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:08.880 You're adopted into Christ, you're hidden into Christ, and so you in that sense become the temple as well. 00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:11.200 Every believer is a brick in the temple of God. 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:12.480 Jesus is the true temple. 00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:13.519 We are connected to him. 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:14.640 We are the temple. 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:16.559 They don't understand this right here. 00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:23.920 They just know that for salvation to come, it's going to come through the temple, through the sacrifices at the temple. 00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:33.839 And of course, Jesus will purify the temple and make it his true dwelling place where he will live in this world through his church, the temple of God. 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:36.640 But so much of this prefigures what will be seen in the church. 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:38.240 This is kind of like a church service. 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:40.400 We've noticed that a few times in Nehemiah. 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:44.079 There's long prayer, long singing, long preaching. 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:48.400 Some of you laughed at that for the entirely the wrong reasons. 00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:51.920 This prefigures what will be seen in the church. 00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:54.480 They're singing these songs of celebration. 00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:56.000 They're purifying themselves. 00:23:56.160 --> 00:23:58.240 Remember, purifying is the baptismal rite. 00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:00.559 They're washing themselves in the mikvas. 00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:02.559 They're purifying their own bodies. 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:04.559 This is exactly what you see in the church. 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:07.839 And then heartfelt worship as they long for their Savior. 00:24:09.039 --> 00:24:11.279 That's what you see in Christian worship, isn't it? 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:12.799 In a fuller sense than this. 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:14.000 This is just prefiguring it. 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:15.759 They didn't fully understand how it all fit together. 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:17.519 We're living at the reality of that. 00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:26.720 We don't purify ourselves in ritual washings every time we open a new church building, but we do purify ourselves in ritual washing every time we add a new person to the church. 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:28.319 That's the point of baptism. 00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:35.519 You're united to Christ, you're confessing your sins, you're washed in the water, you're buried with Christ to the waters of baptism. 00:24:35.599 --> 00:24:40.079 You resurrect with Christ as you emerge, you're proclaiming that you are purifying yourself. 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:42.079 It's actually God that's purifying you. 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:46.640 You're making that profession to purification, and you're now united to the church. 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:49.599 We sing every single church service. 00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:56.799 And we look forward to the return of Christ to his world to claim, to reclaim his temple for himself. 00:24:56.960 --> 00:25:01.519 The same things they're doing here, we practice every Lord's Day in church. 00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:11.599 What a strange scene this would have been this band of singers weaving their way along the wall, this brand new finished wall, places it would have been. 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:14.559 There's places that overlook a cliff on one side of this, okay? 00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:19.440 They better be confident in their uncle's construction as they walk along that thing. 00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:29.920 They're weaving around, not fully understanding why they're doing it, but we know they're doing it pointing to the gospel expansion that will come when Jesus Christ comes. 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:35.759 Secondly, sacrifice relates to joy because sacrifice leads to gospel rewards. 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:40.880 When you make a sacrifice for the gospel, the Lord rewards you for it. 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:42.559 This is not works righteousness. 00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:47.279 Works righteousness teaches that if you do good things, you're earning righteousness for yourself. 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:51.359 As you do good things, you are accumulating righteousness that God will then reward. 00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:19.119 And in the sacrifices you make, God rewards them. 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:22.319 God rewards every deed. 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:26.160 He sees every deed that you do, and he rewards it. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:30.160 I had a slide up earlier that I skipped through, but Ecclesiastes teaches us. 00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:32.000 Ecclesiastes chapter 12. 00:26:32.079 --> 00:26:38.640 This is, I'm using this verse because it is an Old Testament verse that's looking back at this concept that God rewards you. 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:39.759 This is the end of the matter. 00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:41.680 The book of Ecclesiastes ends with this. 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:42.640 All has been heard. 00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:45.920 Fear God, keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 00:26:46.160 --> 00:26:51.680 God will bring every deed into judgment, every secret thing, whether good or evil. 00:26:52.880 --> 00:27:06.960 Paul is essentially quoting this in 2 Corinthians 5 when he says, Well, I'll stand before the Bemis seat, the judgment seat of Christ, to give an account for the deeds done in the flesh, to be rewarded for the deeds done in the flesh, whether good or empty is the New Testament word. 00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:09.200 Falon, just meaningless. 00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:12.880 God sees every action you do, and he rewards them. 00:27:13.039 --> 00:27:18.640 This should be a positive motivation for holy living, noting that every sacrifice you make, God rewards. 00:27:18.799 --> 00:27:19.680 Jesus said the same thing. 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:22.480 We looked at it this morning in Mark chapter 10. 00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:24.319 He made the same point. 00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:27.920 I'll show you a different way of saying it from Matthew 19. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:33.119 This is the same exchange from Mark chapter 10, but I'll quote from Matthew tonight since we looked at Mark this morning. 00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:37.039 Matthew 19, see, Peter says, We've left everything and followed you. 00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:38.720 What then will we have? 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:48.319