The focus of the Old Testament has been – How is God going to bring Jesus into the world? From the call of Abraham (Genesis 12) when God began working through his descendents, the Jewish nation, God has been slowly narrowing the people down to a small remnant. We have read about the beginning of the kingdom in 1 Samuel and how the people, from king to pauper, left the faith (2 Kings). So, God punished Israel with captivity, first in Assyria (722 B. C.), then in Babylon (586 B. C.).
But the 70 years of captivity in Babylon did not atone for the sins of the nation. The captivity punished Israel for her sins but did not take care of the sin problem. Jesus still has to do that. But Israel had been in captivity, the temple in Jerusalem was broken down, the city of Jerusalem itself was laid waste, and the Law of Moses was largely forgotten. Jerusalem needed to be rebuilt & restored and the Law of Moses needed to be reinstituted so Jesus would have a place to preach and a people to preach to.
Under God’s providence, the Persian nation had taken over Babylon and implemented a nation-wide policy of allowing subjugated peoples to go back home. Thus, Israel returned home. But their walls were still broken down and they were thus defenseless.
The news reached the attention of the king of Persia’s cupbearer, Nehemiah. King Artaxerxes gave Nehemiah permission to go home and check on the situation in Jerusalem and rebuild the walls. Despite opposition and discouragement, Nehemiah worked with Ezra, along with the preachers, Haggai and Zechariah, to stir the people up to work on the walls. Soon, the walls were rebuilt and Jerusalem was a defended city once again.
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The city of Jerusalem, in general, and the temple, in particular, will serve as the platform, the “bully-pulpit” so-to-speak, of the coming Messiah. It would be the location where He would do most of His miracles and preaching. Thus, Nehemiah needed to help get the walls rebuilt so the Jewish nation could be prepared for the coming Messiah. That’s when the world would finally change for the better.
We began reading Nehemiah on Saturday and will finish his work on Wednesday.
–Paul Holland
