Such a time we have before us in these two verses of Nehemiah 6. It must have been a time of wonderful relief and joy and thanksgiving to Nehemiah, and to all those who had been engaged in the work of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. They would be looking back and remembering what things had been like before the work started, and the monumental task the rebuilding presented. They would be remembering all the hard work, and the difficulties and opposition they had had to face, and now they could look on the task completed, and wonder at the fact that all had been accomplished.

These are the times when the Lord gives a period of rest and particular joy to his servants. We are led into green pastures and quiet waters. These times are not forever in this life, and may be comparatively short, but we are meant to enjoy them and be blest by the truths which are presented by them. In this sermon let us do just this as we note the victory in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem and the truths that we see here.

We need first of all to notice the miracle that has unfolded in this building of the walls of Jerusalem and its completion. There may be a temptation to forget all the difficulties which had to be overcome, and how impossible the task appeared at the beginning, and now that it is complete think that human hands and expertise achieved this work. In church life and work there is a temptation to look at things this way, specially as people come and congratulate us on the work they see we have done. We must resist this attitude because it is dishonouring to God.

The fact is that all that is accomplished in the work of God is a miracle, which could only have been achieved by God and his power. Every soul that comes into the experience of salvation and eternal life is a miracle. There is no power on earth in human hands that can or could accomplish it. Each of us, in our natural state, are dead spiritually. The things of God are darkness to us in this state of spiritual death. No amount of preaching and teaching could possibly makes us believe, because we are dead spiritually. No person can make a decision to believe by human power. Every conversion is a miracle of God�s power whereby he gives life to the soul and enables a person to understand and receive the Gospel, and believe it. It is not by might or by power but by the Spirit of God. This is also true for every task the church performs.

In the case of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem it was a miracle of God�s purpose and power and grace. How could Nehemiah have won the permission of Artaxerxes to do the work, or to have gained the immense help and aid Artaxerxes provided. How could the people living in and around Jerusalem have been won over to commence the work, and persevere in the work, but by the power of God. How could the opposition of the enemies all around have been overcome unless God had enabled the victory. How could the people have persevered through all discouragement unless God had given them the grace to do so. Without God and his power this project would never have got started, much less be completed. It was a miracle of God.

The work of Christ�s church, though carried out by human hands, is always a miracle of God�s power and grace. Unlike human projects the work of God is always by supernatural power, because human wisdom and power is not enough, and Satan�s opposition too great. Let us always affirm God�s miracle working in the blessings given to the life of the church.

The next thing to notice in this completion of the work of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem is the faithfulness of God to his servants and to his purposes. When God gives a task to his people he is faithful in being with them in the task, and enabling his people to be able to accomplish that task.

We see God�s faithfulness here in the life of Nehemiah. God called him to this task. It was a task quite beyond the ability of Nehemiah to achieve. God called on Nehemiah to go forward in the task and believe that God would be with him in it. This is endemic to the whole work. Nehemiah knew the task was too difficult for him to perform, and so he trusted in God who had called him to make the task achievable. He could not have gone forward if he had not believed this, just as we have to believe this when we are called to some work for God. We could not go forward unless we trusted in God to help us and enable us for the task. The command to do a work carries with it the assurance that God will make the task possible to perform and complete.

God is faithful to us in this faith he calls us to have. We see the faithfulness of God here in the case of Nehemiah. The wall had been completed and in a record time. All the problems and difficulties on the way, which had caused so much anxiety, and renewed calls to God for his help, had been overcome. God had brought the work he had commanded to fulfilment. God never commences a task or calls his people to a task, then forgets them, or leaves the task halfway through. He is there to the end, and will make sure that he enables his servants to win through to the end.

This is true also in the Christian pilgrimage. Having called us to follow Christ, God will never leave us or forsake us, but will make sure we persevere to the end. None shall be able to pluck us out of the hands of Christ. This is the assurance Christ gives in John 10:28 "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my hand. " says Jesus.

We are meant to learn from the faithfulness of God we see in the Bible to take hold of that faithfulness for our own strength and comfort. We should enter ever task God gives us with a sense of our own weakness and inability to do what God calls us to do. If we don�t have this we shall trust in the arm of the flesh and not in God, and we shall grow proud and give ourselves glory. But having said this, we should also take to heart the faithfulness of God to give the victory to his servants, and so go forward in faith and confidence, and without fear. God was faithful here in the work he gave Nehemiah to do, and he will be faithful to us in every work he gives us to do in his church.

It must have been a further great encouragement to Nehemiah to know what effect the finishing of the walls of Jerusalem had and would have upon his enemies and the nations surrounding Jerusalem. The nations had been used to seeing Israel as a spent force and Jerusalem, their capital city, a derelict. The nations had grown to despise and discount Israel. What they see now is a resurgence of power, where the impossible was being done.

It is a great encouragement to the people of God to see the world noticing God at work in his church, and the world having to own that this showed the power of God at work in his church. It is also an encouragement to have the world�s confidence in rejecting God and the Gospel taken from them.

When the church is declining, and seeming to be failing, this is a bad witness to the world. It is a bad witness because it brings dishonour on God. This is what Nehemiah had felt right back in chapter 1 of this book, and it was the reason he commenced to pray, and was ready to obey God when he was called to take on the task of rebuilding Jerusalem.

I wonder if we feel the same when we look out on the church today, and see what little impact and influence there is. How this should drive us to prayer that the glory of God should be re-established. On the other hand what encouragement there is when the church is growing and the work of God prospering, and society being effected for good by the fact lives are being changed by the power of God.

In the case of Nehemiah the enemy had lost confidence, and so the opposition had lost some of its power. In this way Nehemiah and the people of God were enjoy a time of more tranquillity. When the world sees God�s power at work, it has its confidence shaken and the church does experience a time of relative peace. We must not be deceived by this into thinking that there will be no more difficulties, but on the other hand we should not be afraid to enjoy the period of calm. As we shall see in the next verses, that Satan does not give up, and although the opposition was not so virulent and open, it was still working in the background.

The chief encouragement and joy is being able to give glory to God, because our confidence in God and joy in God is and has been increased. In all the advances in God�s work we must see the hand of God, and acknowledge that it is by the power of God that the work has been accomplished. We acknowledge God�s power by giving him the glory.

We give God glory by our thanksgiving to him for what he has done, and praising him for it. Praise and thanksgiving must be the constant activity of the people of God. We should be always noticing and acknowledging the blessing of God in our lives and in the life of the church, and giving glory to God for it. In this way is joy and spiritual growth.

We give glory to God by our witness. People will come and congratulate us on what has been achieved in God�s work. When this happens we must always give the glory to God, and refuse to take glory to ourselves, and tell people that it has been God who has blessed us.

Unless we do this we shall dishonour God, and we shall forget the fact that we fight against principalities and power, against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. We shall start having confidence in the flesh and not in God. We shall find ourselves trusting in our own expertise and not in the power and wisdom of God. Then the church will fail again, and be cause for the world to despise God.

Our whole business as the people of God is to live for God and give him glory. In this way we know joy and peace.

Let us praise God for this record of his blessing and power working in the church of Nehemiah�s day. Let us take heart from it, and be encouraged by it. Let us learn from it so that our faith is strengthened, and we are heartened to pray to God for his blessing, and have the courage to go forward in God�s work when God makes his purposes plain. Let us return to such Scripture as this when we grow discouraged, and see that our God is faithful, and his power invincible, so that we may not give up, but continue in the work and so see God�s victory in the church today.