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MEDITATIONS IN NEHEMIAH

IN GOD�S SERVICE
Meditations in Nehemiah
Number 13
JOY OF THE LORD

Nehemiah 8:9-18

IN our last meditation we saw the Word of God being applied by the Spirit of God to the hearts of the people. The result was a deep conviction of the sin of departing from the commandments of God given in the Book of the Law and the result was mourning and weeping, as we see in verse 9.

The work of God in grace in the heart always commences in this way. There must be conviction of our sin before God, a repentance before God for the wrong we have done, and a sense of our desperate need because of our sin. This work of the Spirit applying the Word of God is always painful, but it is necessary. Without it we will never seek the salvation God has prepared for us, nor will we seek salvation in the right way. If we have any sense left in us that we can gain our salvation from the consequences of sin by our own effort in some way, we shall never receive the true salvation of God, which is a free gift of God�s grace, and received by faith.

The work of conviction had begun in reality in Israel at this time under Nehemiah, and now in the rest of the chapter we see joy of salvation being applied to the hearts and minds of the people. Let seek to see how this is seen in the experience of the Israelites at this time.

In verse 10 we read how Nehemiah urged the people to go and enjoy food and fellowship. In the previous verse, Nehemiah, Ezra the priest, and the Levites instructed the people that the day was sacred to the Lord, and told them not to weep. Then in verse 11 we read how the Levites calmed the people.

When real conviction of sin occurs the Spirit of God then seeks to bring balm to the troubled soul by the application of the Good News of atonement for sin. In the case of God�s people here in the Old Testament the atonement available was of a temporary kind, but it had been given by God, and it pointed to the effective and permanent atonement in Christ to come.

I have no doubt that the call to the people to stop weeping was accompanied by the teaching of the sacrifices which God had given for the atonement of sin, and specially on this sacred day and the days that followed of the feast of Tabernacles which we read in this chapter, and which Israel celebrated again at this time. If we turn to Leviticus 23:33-44 we read the regulations governing this feast, and these included offerings made by fire to the Lord.

The Levites and Ezra and Nehemiah taught the people concerning the remedy for sin which God had provided, which was the bearing of their sin by the sacrifice of another; and the death they deserved being carried by that other. They would have been told that the sin was transferred to the animal, and their sin atoned for, and so they could rejoice.

Together with the preaching of the law of God must come the preaching of the cross of Christ, where atonement was made by our Saviour for sin. The preaching of the law is essential to bring the knowledge of sin, and our desperate need to be saved from the consequence of our sin, but there must also be the preaching of the Gospel that Christ made atonement for our sin, and bore the punishment of our sin in his body of the cross. The law cannot save. It can only convict. The keeping of the law for salvation is impossible and all those who seek salvation that way remain under a curse. It is only Christ and his dying for us that can save us, and there is no joy and salvation other than through faith in Christ.

There can be no doubt that here the people were brought to peace through being taught that God had provided atonement for sin.

The joy of the Lord is none other than the joy the Lord gives to his penitent people. The joy of the Lord is not just a feeling in the heart, but comes from the blessings won for us through the work of Jesus Christ for us.

What is this joy? It is the joy that God so loved us that he provided a sacrifice for sin, even the death of Jesus, our Lord. It is the assurance of full forgiveness of sin which is the result of this atonement for sin. It is the fact that this blessing of forgiveness is simply received by faith, and there is no works for us to do to obtain it. It is the fact that this salvation is not simply the cancelling of our debt to God, but the putting to our account the perfect righteousness of Christ, so that God accounts us righteous in his sight for eternity. It is the result of this blessing that we are reconciled to God, and brought into the family of God and become the children of God. It is the certainty of the blessing of God throughout this earthly life, and the assurance that God will bring us to his heavenly home when this life is ended.

The joy which the Levites and Ezra preached to the people was these blessings of God which come to those who believe the Gospel of atonement for sin through a sacrifice for sin made for us by an innocent victim.

The joy of the Lord is brought to the people of God by the preaching of the wonder and blessing of all that Christ has done for us in his living and dying. It is the preaching that Christ is our sacrifice, and of how his all-sufficient sacrifice brings us into the blessing of fellowship with God.

It is the duty of all those who teach and preach, that their teaching and preaching should be full of Christ as Saviour, in all the depth of the salvation he won, and in all the blessings that result from it. It is a tragedy today that the preaching of Christ crucified features so little and so superficially. There is no real joy in an emotional uplift, unless that uplift is based on the concrete and solid work of Christ for us. Joyous Christians are those whose life and faith is founded on the rock, which is Christ, and a deep understanding of all that means.

The joy of the Lord is our strength is what Nehemiah told the people. What did he mean, and how was that joy realised.

Our strength as Christians is not founded in a steadfast way on happy fellowships and exciting worship, however much blessing there is in these. These will not give strength in the hour of need or when all about us seems to so difficult. The strength which sustains us in the hour of need as well as in the good times, is the true joy of the Lord.

We are strong in the Lord and the power of his might when we have put on the whole armour of God. The whole armour of God is the application of the Gospel of Christ to our hearts and minds. We are strong when we have our faith on the solid work of Christ, on his doing and dying for us, and when we understand and believe he has won perfect and eternal redemption for us. Strength is when we know in our hearts that we are children of God because of the work of Christ for us, which he did without our aid, and which he did perfectly, and which is ours for all eternity.

We will be strong in the joy of the Lord when our joy is in the wonder and greatness of what Christ has done for us, and not on any supposed effort or merit we may suppose we have gained by our living and doing. We are full of joy, and so strong, when our hope and faith is in Christ alone.

Such joy is given to us for our strength the moment we believe, because the Holy Spirit convinces us of righteousness imputed to us, and of judgement removed. But true joy which is our strength is a growing thing. The joy of yesterday will not do for today. The Gospel must daily be applied to our souls and our faith be daily in the Saviour�s work for us. Further joy which brings strength is one that is a deepening joy which comes from ever more deeper understanding of and appreciation of the greatness and fullness of all that Christ has done for us, and won for us when he died, and is still doing in his high priestly work in heaven, where he ever lives to make intercession of us.

Joy which brings strength is first and foremost based on the growing understanding and confidence in Christ and his love for us. So joy which brings strength is known most by those believers who are ever deepening their understanding of the Gospel.

We can only be strong in the Lord and the power of his might, which his work for us, and our whole hearted faith in that work. The power of his might is not power we are given, but the power in him and his work for us. This is our joy and our strength.

This feast was part of the process of knowing the joy of the Lord through which we are strengthened. It is not a feast we celebrate today, but it has much to teach us about the joy of the Lord.

In this feast the people where commanded to live in booths made of temporary structure of branches, etc. This represented their pilgrim condition in this world. Their minds were directed back to the time when they were pilgrims, living in tents, and travelling to the promised land. It was a time to remember that during that time they were totally in the hands of God to guide them and bring them safely to the land he had promised to give them. It was in the future a reminder of their pilgrim condition. The people of faith in the Old Testament like Abraham, looked for a better country, an eternal one, whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11;10,16).

The feast of Tabernacles was a reminder to the Israelites that God was their God and he was their guardian and guide. For us today it is timely to be reminded that we have no eternal city here on earth, and we belong to another country, which is heavenly. It is good to be reminded that our joy is in Jesus who is our Lord and Shepherd, who is leading us forward and onward to that home in his heavenly realm which he is preparing for us.

Just as the Israelites had the feast of Tabernacles to remind them of their pilgrim status, we have the Holy Communion, which has part of its purpose to remind us that we have been bought with a price, the price of the precious blood of Christ, and that we have been purchased to be members of that heavenly realm where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Because of this we have no permanent dwelling on this earth, and should not set our affections on things of this earth, because they can�t satisfy and are passing away. We belong to a better realm, whose joys are forever and truly satisfy.

We have joy in the Lord which is truly joy, and never fades, and has a depth we never will be able to exhaust. This is our strength in time, and our glory in eternity.