Nehemiah chapter 3
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Before Nehemiah came all these people had looked on the devastation all round them, without it having any effect upon them. They all had their own business to carry on, and had no intention of giving up their time for something like building the ruin all around them. It is true that in the previous chapter, Nehemiah had appealed to them to look at the disgrace of the state of Jerusalem, and had called upon them to do something about it; but we all know that to move people to action, in such a situation, is exceedingly difficult. We all know the discouragement of making suggestions about God's work, and only receiving reasons why such a work is impossible to carry out. Here, however, the people seem to have taken on board the cry of Nehemiah, and given up the time to start the work of rebuilding. (Chapter 2: 18b).

In fact, here we have illustrated for us some very important Scriptural truths concerning how God works in his church. Let us see if we can appreciate what they are, for the good of our own spiritual lives, and for the blessing upon the church fellowships to which we belong.

"Went to work". These three words appear in the first verse, and they express the wonder and genius of this whole chapter.

The fact that the people, from all walks of life, and from all classes of people, commenced the work, and took responsibility for part of the building, shows us some very powerful truths concerning the spiritual life.

Firstly, it tells us that God works in sovereign grace and power, and this is demonstrated by the people being made willingly to do this work. Nothing but the power of God could have changed the normal unwillingness of the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and make them so willing and eager to take the work on. On top of this, the chapter suggests, that it was most of the people in Jerusalem who began to work, and not just the faithful few. Often in church life, when work is required to be done, only the faithful few are willing to give their time and energy for the work. Here, however, the whole population were moved to do the work. This could mean nothing but the sovereign power of God working in their midst.

Secondly, we see an example of the Holy Spirit at work in people's hearts and lives. When we see the work of God progressing, and revival taking place in the church, this is the work of the Holy Spirit, and his work alone. Although Nehemiah was God's agent in bringing the people to see the need, and to begin work, he had no power of his own to make the people willing. The power we see here is God's power, which he exercised through God, the Holy Spirit. Because of this, Nehemiah could take no glory to himself. All the glory belongs to God alone. It is very important in God's work, to humbly accept the fact that it is God's power that does the work, and praise him for that work, and give him the glory alone.

Thirdly, we see in this revival, that God keeps his promises to his people. It was over 70 years before, when Jeremiah was prophesying in Israel, and God was telling the Israelites at that time that he was judging them, and placing them in exile in Babylon, that God promised that he would restore Israel after 70 years. This work under Nehemiah was God keeping his promise given so long ago. We see the promise being kept in all that happened to Nehemiah up to this point. God was keeping his promise in the fact that he stirred Nehemiah to be concerned about the state of Jerusalem, and to pray and work to that end. It was God keeping his promise also by blessing the efforts of Nehemiah, so that the people were so ready to carry out the work.

These are some of the spiritual truths which we see worked out and illustrated in this chapter, as we see the people beginning this work, and doing it willingly.

Also in the first verse, we notice this interesting fact that those who led in taking up the work of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem were the priests, led by the high priest.

It was one of the blessings of this revival under Nehemiah, that the spiritual leaders, the priests and the high priest, were involved in the work and were effected by it. It is not always the case that the spiritual leaders are involved in revival. There have been many examples in the past where the leaders of the Church were the chief opposition to revival, and when this is the case it is very sad. When Christ was on earth it was a sad fact that the leaders of the Church then, the high priests, priests and Pharisees, were the ones who were most in opposition to the work of God, and this was the great tragedy for Jews.

It was a great blessing in this revival in Jerusalem that the spiritual leaders were effected by the revival, and gave good leadership by taking part first in the work. This gave a powerful example to the rest of the Jews in Jerusalem, and it would have inspired them also to get involved in the work. Also, by the leaders giving this example, the people were shown that this work had come from God and was something that God wanted them to do. The people would then be encouraged by this to know that the work would prosper because God was working with power in their midst.

This shows us how important it is for ministers, and spiritual leaders, to set a good example by being fully involved in the reviving work of God in his church.

The next thing that is instructive to observe in this chapter, is the fact that all groups, families, and skills, were involved in the building of the walls of Jerusalem.

The work of God needs and requires all the church to take part and do their bit. The teaching that is illustrated here is the teaching that the church is the body of Christ. When we become Christians, we become members of the Church, and that means we are part of Christ�s body here on earth. Also in this illustration of the church as the body of Christ, each individual Christian becomes a part of the body, that is one Christian may be the finger, another a toe, another an eye, and so on. The human body is only healthy, and functioning at its best, when all the parts of the body are doing their bit, and working in a healthy way. When one part of our body is ill, or in pain, or even lazy so that it is not functioning properly, then the efficiency of the body is reduced, and we are not able to do our best in life, or do the work properly, in which we are engaged.

The same is true of the Church of God as the body of Christ. If parts of the body, that is members of the Church, are not pulling their weight, or are not taking part in the work of the Church, then the body of Christ is weakened, and the work of God is impaired.

Each part of the human body has a special and different function, and each member allows the body to perform in different ways, and achieve different forms of work. Each part of our body has a different skill and a different purpose within the body, and if a member or part of the body is not working properly, then the body is ill or weak. Each Christian as a member of the body, is given skills and abilities for God�s work in his church. Each skill of each member is important for the well-being of the church. Each member needs to find out what gifts they have from the Holy Spirit, and then seek to use them for God in his church.

It was one of the great blessings of the revival in Jerusalem under Nehemiah that all the people, that is all the members of the Church, were involved. One of the great blessings of revival is that God gives gifts to his church, and inspires each member to use the gifts they are given to enhance the work of God. In this it does not mean that the power is human, but that God by his power has given ability and gifts to his people to do the work under his direction and his inspiration.

In verse 5 we read the sad fact that with one of the families, the nobles in the family did not put their shoulders to the work. Their hearts were not in it, and they were not wanting to get involved in the work of rebuilding the wall. Perhaps they felt it was beneath them to do this manual labour. Perhaps they grudged the time spent on this work, when they wanted the time to do many other things. Whatever the reason, these nobles were not giving the labour they could, and so the works suffered for this reason, and others may have been influenced against the work by the attitude of these nobles.

Because human nature is what it is, and because human nature is fallen and sinful, there will always be those who will not pull their weight in God�s work. However, we should not let this discourage us, or allow ourselves to be infected by this sort of attitude, but rather be enthusiastic for the Lord in whatever work is going on in our church fellowship.

In spite of all the difficulties, and the weaknesses of human beings, the work of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem began and continued. We see here God was faithful to his promises, which he made to Israel through Jeremiah 70 years before. We see God enabling his servant Nehemiah, who was an ordinary human being, to have the courage to move the people to start the work, and then we see God moving by his Spirit to bring the people to be willing and enthusiastic to carry out the work.