September 13, 2009
Scripture:
Ephesians 1:10
We’ve been thinking of the children of Israel, and how God just dwelt among them. As a result of Jesus’ work on the cross, the veil has been rent and we can come into His presence. But there is one thing that we need to realize. We find here that believers are in Christ! We can’t be nearer than that. Not only are we with Him, but we are in Him. Precious truth! In the future, we will be with Him as His Bride. That is more than we can realize. We will be radiant with His glory; because He’s our Bridegroom. But right now we can wonder in the fact that we are not just with Him, we are in Him.
Hymn 350 – I will make you fishers of men
Prayer
Last time, we talked about a the word promise. We learned that God made a promise to Abraham: he promised that his descendants would become a great nation. But Abraham didn’t have any children, so the promise is really that Abraham will have a child. Do you think God will fulfill the promise?
Yes, we read that He did in Genesis 21:1 – 8. Isaac was really a very miraculous child, since Abraham and Sarah were very old when he was born. So Isaac was the promised child; can you think of another promised child in the Bible. The Lord Himself was a promised child; we can read that promise in several places in the Old Testament. Isaac and the Lord were similar in many ways. They were both born at the appointed time (Galatians 4:4). Interesting, the Lord also died at an appointed time (Romans 5:6). They were both circumcised (Luke 2:21); that was a ceremony that brought children into Judaism, similar to baptism today. Also, we read that they both grew (Luke 2:40).
We can take that last point a bit further; read Luke 2:52.
The Lord grew in all these areas, and we need to as well. For most of these areas, reading our Bibles and praying daily, as we sang, will help us grow.
In these verses, Nehemiah is talking about the time he spent in Jerusalem and his responsibilities. For twelve years, he was the governor of Judah; during that time, he organized the project to rebuild the walls. However, he explains that he didn’t require the bread that he could have as governor. He didn’t want to increase the burden of the Jews. We can see his sensitivity to the Jews, which was unlike the other Jews we read about in the beginning of the chapter.
We read similar things about the apostle Paul: read I Corinthians 9:14. Paul supported himself as a tent-maker. Also, we read the Lord’s rebuke in Ezekiel 34:2 & 3 to the shepherds of Israel who didn’t do their duty as leaders.
Because of Nehemiah’s actions, he was much more credible than he would have been otherwise; he practised what he preached. And why didn’t he require the governor’s portion? It was because he feared the Lord, v.
Nehemiah gives a summary of his work over those 12 years; he was very astute at seeing the plans of the enemy; he kept focused on the work: the wall.
In v. 17, we find that he had quite a few people at his table; we get the shopping list in v. 18. However, Nehemiah didn’t take all that was due him, as we’ve seen; also, it seems that he has some funds of his own, as he appears to be supporting himself.
Nehemiah’s prayer in v. 19 is very similar to Joseph’s request of the butler.
Hymn 362 – Two little eyes to look to God
Prayer