Nehemia part 2: The man & his vison.

Part 2:

A few things to keep in mind as we go on with this study is that this a biblical study on the book of Nehemia, so to get the best out of it read it with your bible open so that you can see what is happening in the story. What that means is that we will actually talk about what happens in the book and not just leadership principles imposed on the book. For some of us this will be hard work as much of the way we come to the Scriptures is to impose our view on it instead of letting it speak to us. I encourage you to read this thoughtfully and prayerfully, open your bible and let the God of Nehemia speak to you.

Having looked at some of the impact that Nehemia had in his life in the previous section, this next section will discuss the role that vision had on all that he did in the 12 short years he governed Judah. Vision, simply put, is the ability to see.Yes, leadership gurus have made lofty arguments about all the dynamics of that sight, but as we start our conversati\on about Nehemiah and how we take on 2025, I want you to keep that in mind.

“Vision, simply put, is what I see.”

There are two sides to vision, 1) his vision of God and 2) what God called him to.

A.W Tozer writes that:

“ What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure . . . as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech. She can never escape the self-disclosure of her witness concerning God.”

These words are so powerful and I believe that the phrase, “We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God ” is the key to understanding Nehemia’s leadership. His image of God moved him towards the dreams of God in a way that can still speak to us more than 2450 years later. We will see how his vision of God guided/informed and shaped Nehemiah’s choices and actions. We will specifically look at three principles which will reveal that the way he saw God impacted his beliefs as seen in some of his action, prayers, and reforms, these three principles are:

1. Understanding God’s history with his people and what it revealed about who God is to them.

2. The law is good, necessary and to be wholeheartedly followed in all of life;

3. Nehemiah knew that he served a personal God that answers to the cries of His people.

1.)Understanding God’s history with his people and what it revealed about who God is to them:

Bruce Waltke in his seminal work “Old Testament Theology” writes about Nehemiah’s

zeal for finishing the building of the wall as having a deeper root than just being about seeing

the city is protected. He writes:

“Regard for Nehemiah regards reproach against God’s symbolic representations of his

temple and his chosen city as reproach against God himself. And such reproaches must

be righted. His passion for God’s kingdom, God’s glory, and the city God loves motivate

him to risk the displeasure of the Persian crown. He leaves his prestigious position in

Susa, gives up his right to the governor’s remuneration, and entertains royalty out of his

own deep pockets to relieve the people of his tax.”.

Nehemia is a Jewish man that deeply knew God's heart for the Jewish people. We see this zeal for God’s glory proven in the very emotional response from Nehemiah as his brother comes to him in Neh.1 and tells him about the state of the city and its walls : “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven” (Neh.1.4). This response shows how deeply Nehemia was connected to this vision God had about his city Jerusalem and His people the Jews. Nehemia knew God’s heart and thus it moved his heart not just to a place of prayer but action seen in him leaving his position to go and do something about that which he saw was stealing glory from God.

It is one thing for Nehemia to personally know God’s heart for his people and his city but it is totally a different story to invite others to see again. This is one of the things that I think makes Nehemia such a great leader. It is his commitment to invite the people of God into God’s story and not just his own vision. He does this by getting Ezra the priest to retell the story of the people of God and His covenantal history with them. I believe that this is because if they would understand the “story” of what God had done for their forefathers they will have hope that God will treat them the same way again in the midst of all of their opposition. We see that in the Old Testament God tells people to remember 137 times. In this retelling the story of who this God is that they serve, it is clear that they are highlighting His generosity. He is the God who gives life to everything in creation (Neh. 9.6), the God gave his law at Sinai (Neh. 9.13, 34), and then went on to give them guidance (Neh.9.19), food, and clothing (Neh.9.20–21), the God who gave them deliverers (Neh. 9.27) and prophets (Neh.9.30) and the God who gave His Spirit. This might be linked to the people needing to know how they as an exiled people serve a generous God who will give back to them the land He promised to their forefathers if they repent and turn from their sinful ways. We can see Nehemiah builds on his historical understanding of God in his prayers (Neh.1.5) and also in his harsh response to the exploitation of debt (Neh.5.10-12), intermarriage, and his final reforms (Neh.12).

2) The Law is good, necessary, and to be wholeheartedly followed in all of life:

To understand his vision we should understand that he not only saw the importance of knowing their history in God. But that the Law that God gave his people was more than just a historical account. The Law directed every step that Nehemia took, we see this from his first prayer: “Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments'' (Neh.1.5), this is clearly a reference to the self-revelation of God. We can identify attributes of his prayer to where God passes before

Moses and declares: “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger,

abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness,

rebellion, and sin.”(Exodus. 34.6-7).

We see here that his approach to God as the God that loves comes from his knowledge of the law. Nehemiah also calls for 7 days of reading and teaching of the law so that all the people do not just hear it, but can understand it as it is explained to the people in a simple way (Neh.8.4,7). The primary reason for this was not just to have a good intellectual exercise, but for the people to know the God that they are called to obey. Nehemiah’s commitment to the God who gave this law is seen not just in how he educates the people in the law but in his response to the implementation of marriage reforms, cancelation of debt, temple reform, worship reform, and his handling of temple corruption. Clearly Nehemia’s vision of God was deeply connected to radical obedience to what he taught in the law.

3) The God that Nehemiah serves is personal and good and answers the cries of his

people:

Lastly, point before we get to personal application for 2025, Nehemia knew that the God that he serves is personal, and not just personal, but actually wants us to communicate with him. Knowing this is foundational to what it means to be Christian. Furthermore, not only does He want to communicate with his people, but he wants to be a part of their everyday lives. We see in the life of Nehemiah that he clearly had a revelation of prayer and man’s ability to touch the heart of God in earnest conversation. We read throughout the book 10 times that Nehemiah cry’s out to God in prayer. Thinking back to our key of understanding Nehemiah, “We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God ” his mental image ( we will dive deeper into this in a following post) we see through these prayers is one of Nehemia deeply believing in the relational aspect of the God that he served. That this God cares about his people and throughout the 12 years that we see Nehemiah govern Judah, his prayer life seems to be the one place where he always knew he would find steadfastness.

In the life of Nehemiah, we see how these three aspects of how he saw God was almost like a rope tied together which formed a leader that was zealous for Jerusalem and her people, Law loving, history honoring, and submitted to a loving God in prayer.

Application for 2025:

Simply put, where will your mental image of God move towards? How much substance does your revelation of God carry? What I mean with that is that if your revelation of God is a bank account that you withdraw from, what can it buy? What quality of life will it purchase ? What quality of love? What quality of service ? As a refresher here is what Nehemia’s revelation got him:

1. Mobilized the people to build the wall (Neh .2.17-18) and finished it (Neh. 6.15);

2. Give defensive military strategy when opposition comes to the building (Neh.4.13,16-18);

3. Canceled the debt and exploitation of the poor (Neh.5.10-12);

4. Established security force in Jerusalem (Neh.7.2-3);

5. Ordered a census & repopulation of Jerusalem(Neh.7.5-73);

6. The teaching of the Law is a simplistic way for the people to understand (Neh.8.4,7) ;

7. Reinstated the following of the Mosaic Law, and the people’s recommitting to the

covenant (Neh.9:38);

8. Reinstated the Levitical order of worship through financial reform (Neh.12.44-47); and

9. Weeded out temple corruption (Neh.12.8).

Maybe our self improvement methods fall short for the very reason that Tozer told us in the beginning of this piece: “The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.” Perhaps we should commit to a new vision? One not of more frantic activity but rather of gazing, beholding, searching, seeking a vision of God so large, so all encompassing that all the injustice of the world does not paralize us but moves us to live lifes that reveal the character of the God that we have beheld.

“ but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 9:24