Nehemiah 9:39 to 10:39

THIS passage which is the last verse of chapter 9 of Nehemiah and the whole of chapter 10 describes the binding agreement that the people of Israel made at this time in order to keep faithful and obedient to God. This agreement was made under the old covenant of law which was given by Moses, which covenant has been superseded by the new covenant in Christ. At this time the promised Christ had not come and the way of approach to God was by the interim measures which God appointed until Christ came. However this does not mean that this passage is not relevant for Christians today, and that we have nothing to learn from this action. All the interim measures which God appointed in the Old Testament, though shadows of good things to come, yet all pointed to the new covenant in Christ.

Christians are not under law, but under grace. This is the message which the Apostle Paul gave so urgently and clearly. We must not turn back to the law in order to be accepted by God, for this would place us again under the curse of the law, which is that we are condemned unless we keep the law perfectly without any failure at any point. At the time of Nehemiah, the only way they knew of being accepted by God was through the keeping of the law, and the atonement for sin through animal sacrifices. which could not take away sin, but pointed the people to the perfect sacrifice of Christ to come.

Although we are not accepted by God through our own keeping of the law, but through Christ's keeping of the law for us, and dying to bear the curse of the law for us, we still seek to please the Lord out of love and devotion, by living as Christ gave us the example, and the law is a pattern to emulate and follow. Our actions can't save us, but seeking to please God by keeping the law of God is evidence that we have experienced salvation through faith in Christ. In this respect this passage before has much to help us in our lives as we seek to show our love and devotion to the Lord in the holy life we seek to live.

In verse 28 of chapter 10 we read that the Israelites agreed to separate themselves from the neighbouring peoples for the sake of the law of God. All spiritual declension and falling away from the Lord that Israel had shown in their history came from their making alliance with the heathen world around them, and absorbing their culture and ways. This led them to the great sin of worshipping the idols which the people around them worshipped, and this in turn led to accepting the unacceptable ways of life of these people, and which were bound up in their idol culture.

The world is always a danger to the Christian. Although we have a new principle of life in Christ, and are born again of the Spirit, yet we still have to express this new life through the flesh, the old sinful nature resident in our body and mind. This is why the Apostle Paul talks in Romans 8 of the importance of putting to death the deeds of the flesh. The word he uses is 'mortify' the deeds of the flesh.

The best way to mortify the deeds and desires of the flesh is to positively run after Christ and the things of the Spirit of God. Sinful desires are best expelled and nullified by the expulsive power of a new and more powerful desire, which is for the Christian love for Christ, and the experience of his great love for us. But what is true is this, that such is the power of the desires of the flesh, that if we flirt with the world and its pleasures and ways, we shall find the desires of the flesh will overpower us. We have to live and work in this world, and we are meant to enjoy all the good things God has given us in creation, etc. but we must never allow ourselves to be overcome by love of the world. Paul said sadly that Demas had forsaken him because of love for the world.

In seeking to keep from allowing the world to influence us away from Christ we need to guard ourselves from those things we know are dangerous for us in the world. One guide given here in our passage is the danger of marriage with someone who is not a Christian. Experience generally shows that, far from the Christian influencing the unbeliever towards Christ, it is the unbeliever who seduces the Christian from devotion to Jesus. Each of us has characteristics in our nature which make it easy for us to be seduced by the world. It is these we should specially guard against, so that we never place ourselves in such a position where we may be overcome by these desires. This means turning away from those things in the world, however legitimate of themselves, which we know will draw us from Christ. Each one of us needs to be honest with ourselves and face those things which are danger to us, and mortify these desires - though they may be varied and different for different people. For some it may be sport, another it may be passion to succeed in the world, for another it is human affection. The list is almost endless.

What is more important still is the positive side. Turning away from sin is good, but it will be of little use unless we turn away from sin to the Lord. If we separate ourselves from the world, we must cleave more to Christ, and the joy of his presence and love. Here our passage has important things to teach us.

Verse 32 to 34 tells us that the people here made agreement to maintain the altar sacrifices, for it was in these that they found atonement for sin and the maintaining of their acceptance with God. This points us to the heart of the true spirituality and godliness.

In the New Testament all the Jewish ritual of altar and sacrifices was done away, and was superseded by the one perfect, once for all altar of the cross of Christ, and the one all sufficient sacrifice for sin which Jesus made for us by his perfect sacrifice of himself on the cross. Jesus was priest and sacrifice, and he made the perfect sacrifice for sin which fully and completely atones for the sin of the world, and so makes further sacrifice unnecessary. It is true to say that the seeking to raise altars of sacrifice again is to defame Christ, because such action suggests that Christ did not make a perfect and all-sufficient sacrifice for sin. Christ makes the earthly priesthood also redundant - that is the priest who offers sacrifice for sin on an altar to God, because Christ has made the one sacrifice for all time, and he is a priest forever interceding before the Father on behalf of all who believe .

What this emphasis on the maintenance of the altar here teaches us is the importance of Christ as the centre and foundation of our faith and life. We are saved and reconciled to God through faith in Christ as our sin bearer. It is his sacrifice, made once for all for sin, which is our salvation. The maintenance of the altar here speaks to us of the importance of believing in Christ alone for our acceptance with God, and continuing in such believing, because for all eternity it is Christ and his work for us that is our salvation and our title to heaven. The maintenance of the altar here teaches us to cleave to Christ, to trust in him, to love him, and to be obedient to him. For Christ is our Saviour continually and forever.

So the maintenance of our spiritual life is by holding up the cross high, and in learning more and more of the wonder of the cross and all that Jesus did for us in his death and resurrection. It is seeking to know Jesus, and to be found in him not having a righteousness of our own, but the righteousness of Christ which is received by faith. It is in knowing the power of his resurrection - that is all the blessings of Christ's finished work, and the application of them to our lives, and the living in them from day to day.

Following on from the maintenance of the altar in this passage, we find the agreement to maintain the temple and all its worship.

Our spiritual lives, and our devotion to the Lord, and the increase of our love for the Lord, is by the means of grace God has given us, which is the worship of God in private and public. This is maintained for us in the fellowship of the church. Belonging to a church fellowship is essential to our spiritual lives. Solitary Christians are an aberration in the Christian life. Some may have to be solitary for some reason, and then God gives special grace, but for the majority we must be members of the church, the body of Christ. Our spiritual life is maintained by the life of the church. It is maintained by the teaching we receive, and the fellowship we enjoy, and the sharing of our knowledge of Christ which is found in fellowship, and our support of other believers and their support of us in the difficulties and trials of life.

We find this illustrated in the early church, where we read of them after Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit, that they devoted themselves to the Apostle's teaching, to fellowship, to breaking of bread and to prayers. This is the life of the church. We join a fellowship. We use the gifts God has given us to keep that fellowship healthy and strong, and glorifying God. We give for the maintenance of the church property, and we seek to support and help, spiritually and temporally, others in the fellowship who need it.

We must attend the worship of the church on Sundays. The people in our passage agreed to keep the Sabbath holy. They excluded all earthly and usual activities of life, in order to give themselves to God in worship and seeking his face. For us this means we must never let earthly things prevent us from using Sunday to nourish our spiritual life, and to give ourselves to meet the Lord in worship and praise.

Sunday worship is given us by God in his love. God knows that we need one day in seven to give to the nourishment of our souls. We have to be busy in the world six days a week to earn a living, but our souls and spirits need attention and nourishment. God has given us Sunday for this purpose.

But wise Christians will not be content with such coming to church on Sunday. They will also seek to meet in fellowship for prayer and learning and sharing during the week also, as opportunity is found. The wise Christian will also not neglect private prayers and study of the Bible, because we need to meet with our Lord every day, if we are to live in his presence with joy.