expository meditations on the book of nehemiah

WE continue to explore the praise to God which the people of Israel offered on this day of thanksgiving for the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem in the days of Nehemiah. Although we should not live in the past or on the experiences of the past, but live in the present and the new experiences of life with God, yet it is good to always remember the roots from which we have been nurtured and from which we have grown, and remember them with praise and thanksgiving to God. This is important not least with regard to our conversion and salvation.

In these two verses the Israelites praise God for the way God chose Abraham and called him out of Ur of the Chaldeans to journey to the promised land. This was the birth of the Jewish nation. It was their call to follow God, and where their spiritual journey began. They remembered this rightly as a great blessing from God, and one for which to praise God continually. Here was the source of all their blessing, and of the fact that God was their God. Because of this it illustrates for us where our spiritual journey commenced, which was at our conversion, when God called us into salvation and eternal life, and it is in this light I will seek to show how this praise of Israel can be our praise too, and should be a source of continual praise in our lives.

PRAISE FOR SOVEREIGN ELECTION

There is great praise in Israel because God chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans. In other words he was brought out of the world into the kingdom of God, and from darkness to light. This was Abraham�s conversion. What a source of praise this was and is for us. Let us notice what is told us here about our salvation.

God chose Abraham and brought him out of Ur. In the experience of Abraham he was brought to make a decision to leave all the way of life he had known, and the material security that he enjoyed, and then to journey to a destination he did not know, and to simply trust God and God�s word. There is no way that he would have made this decision in human wisdom and strength. Indeed Abraham would never have thought of leaving the world he knew of his own thought and volition. The very idea would have never entered his head unless God had placed it there. Nor would Abraham have dreamt of such a gamble with his life and happiness and go into the unknown, unless there had been a power outside himself that made it possible. There is no idea in the narrative of Genesis that Abraham was a restless soul looking for adventure, so this could not have been the reason for his moving from Ur.

The truth we see demonstrated here is the saving election of God. The call that Abraham had was an irresistible call. God had chosen him for life, and so God made sure that he received this life and blessing. Notice how verse 7 expresses the truth concerning Abraham. It was God who brought him out. In his experience Abraham was not tied up, as it were, and forcefully carried away. In his experience, Abraham made choices, but the choices were made because of God�s loving election of Abraham, and so he was enabled by mind, emotion and will to do what the Lord had purposed in blessing for him.

This is a source of great praise. We are saved and are on the way to heaven, and enjoy God, not because of our strength of will or wisdom of mind, but because of the fact that God chose us, before the foundation of the world, to be his, and to receive the blessing of his grace and love, and the gift of life. At the time of our conversion we made decisions to put our trust in Christ and to follow him, but our repentance was given us by the action of God�s grace towards us, and our appreciation of Christ, and hunger after him as our Saviour, was God given and again an act of grace, and sovereign love. How much we have to praise God that he chose us for life and made us inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. There is nothing in the whole world which would have brought us to faith but this sovereign election of God in love. Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus our blessed Redeemer. Oh yes! how much should we praise him that God gave us to his dear Son, so that he would die for us.

A NEW NAME.

Abram means �exalted father�. Abraham means �father of many�. The new name Abraham that was given, was the seal of the promise of God to him that he would be the father of many nations. At first we may believe that this means that he was the father of the Jewish Nation, which of course he was, but this is not what was said in Genesis 17:4-6. Abraham was the father of many nations, and kings would come to him. The words denote none other than the fact that Abraham was the father of the Christian Church, the multitude of believers from every nation and tongue, and from every walk of life, from kings even to beggars.

The new name, therefore, marked Abraham as a believer. It was essentially God marking him as a redeemed soul, a child of God, and an inheritor of the Kingdom, and one whom God owned as his child. Names in the Old Testament were not chosen at random, but to express meaning. Abraham�s name expressed the fact that he belonged to God and God was his Father.

This concept of a new name is very precious, and one for great praise. It is recognised in baptism, when we are named at baptism, and the name we are given is called our Christian name, the name we were given when we became a child of God, and to express the fact that we are a child of God. Baptism is pointing to this fact that God owns us as his own.

In Revelation 3:12 Jesus says that he will write on his faithful people the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem. Then again the redeemed are described in Revelation 14:1 (the 144000 is a symbolic number for all the redeemed) as having his name (the name of the Lamb) and his Father�s name (God) written on their foreheads.

Let us praise God that in Christ and the redemption we have been given through him, we have the name of Christ, and a new name, written on our foreheads, and so we are known by God as his own for all eternity. There could not be a more wonderful subject for praise than this. Praise Him for his grace.

A FAITHFUL HEART.

Israel praised God for the fact that Abraham was found by God to have a faithful heart. What does this express? Surely it expresses the inward condition of the life of Abraham. He had a faithful heart. He had a principle of life within him that was devoted to God and the will of God, and loved God and his ways. Surely this speaks of nothing less than the new birth which is at the heart of our redemption.

Abraham had a faithful heart. What did this signify? It signified a heart that was full of faith and obedience to God, and a heart that rested on the word and promise of God, and a heart that was committed to God in love and obedience. Abraham, we are told, believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. He believed God because he had a faithful heart, a heart full of faith in the promise of God. Where does such a believing heart come from but from the new heart God gives his redeemed, the new birth, by which alone we are renewed and are able to and want to trust and obey God.

We have the chicken and the egg syndrome here. Which comes first, the chicken to lay the egg or the egg to bring forth the chicken. The same dilemma is before us when we think of new birth. Do we believe and so are new born, or are we enabled to believe because we are given new birth. Our minds begin to spin when we think like this. The important thing to remember is that new life is God�s sovereign gift, and faith and new birth go together, and cannot be divided, and it is by the sovereign grace of God and the gift of grace, that we are new born and have faith unto salvation.

Whatever we may say, we are given a faithful heart by God, and this enables us to love God and enjoy him forever, and so let us praise God for the new heart he has given us, and acknowledge this blessing from God in praise every day.

A NEW LAND.

The Jews with Nehemiah praised God for the covenant of God with Abraham that gave him and his descendants a land to dwell in and enjoy. In the temporal sense this meant for Abraham and the Jews the land of Palestine, but there is no doubt spiritually that all the spiritual descendants of Abraham, the true spiritual people of God - God�s chosen people, in the covenant of redemption in Christ promised to Abraham, are given a new land, even heaven, the eternal glory. We are made citizens of heaven. We belong to the new Jerusalem. As Abraham looked for a city whose builder and maker is God, even a heavenly city, so do we. We are marching to Zion, beautiful Zion.

This is the sure hope in redemption that fills us with praise, and for which we should continually praise God. This world is not our home, we are just passing through, as the song proclaims. We have a bright and eternal future, which causes us to be able to face the turmoil of the world, with all its uncertainty and loss, and be able to say God is our God, and we are his children, and we have been given by our heavenly Father an eternal home, and so whatever this life may bring we are in the hands of our eternal Father, and he is bringing us to that eternal realm of light, life and blessing.

FAITHFULNESS OF GOD.

Why can we praise with such joy and certainty? Because God is faithful, and has promised these blessings, and because he is righteous he will never break his word.

Israel praised God because they knew God was and is faithful, which is expressed in their words "You have kept your promise because you are righteous". This faithfulness was shown to Israel in Nehemiah�s day in the fact that this remnant had found God with them, helping them, strengthening them and enabling them in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. It was further revealed in the fact that here they were being renewed spiritually by God, and also shown in their repentance and praise to God. God had not only enabled them to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, but he was faithful in rebuilding their spiritual lives, and their faith and love towards God. This renewal was symbolised in the rebuilding of the walls, and seen in actual fact because they repented and returned to the Lord, and were now praising him for his grace and love.

God is faithful and righteous. We may fail in love for God, and even grievously sin against God, but God does not and can�t forsake his believing people, because Christ has died for us, and our sin has been eternally and completely atoned for by Christ. Because of this wonderful sacrifice of love which Christ has performed, which has satisfied the law of God perfectly on our behalf, God would not be righteous if he condemned us and rejected us on account of our sins, however great may be our failure and sin. For God to forsake us would be to exact the penalty for sin twice, first in Christ, and then in us. God may allow us to fail and fall from time to time, but this is for our good, that we may learn the true nature of our sinfulness and failure, be brought to more true and deep repentance, learn humility, and learn that we are dependent on Christ alone, not only for forgiveness, but also for our progress in the Christian life, and our walking in the way of God. Even though God does allow us to fail sometimes, yet he will never forsake us for Christ�s sake, and will keep us from falling eternally.

CONCLUSION

Praise for our salvation is the expression of our hearts, as we realise the grace of God for us. As we remember the greatness of God�s work in us to save us and keep us in his love, we have to shout for joy and praise his holy name.