Isaiah, chapters 44 and 45 record a fascinating prophecy given in 700 B.C. Isaiah prophesied that one named Cyrus would give a command to rebuild the Temple. At the time of this prophecy the Temple was still standing and Cyrus hadn’t even been born yet.
Babylon invaded Jerusalem and the temple was destroyed in 586. B.C. The Jewish people were in exile forced to live in Babylon. A very powerful Persian King named Cyrus The Great conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. Daniel prospers under the rule of King Cyrus and 161 years after the prophecy, Cyrus gives a command to rebuild the Temple.
The Bible is filled with hundreds of examples of prophecies just as fascinating as this one. Even the most skeptical person can’t deny this kind of evidence that God exists.
537 B.C. the first exiles return to Jerusalem.
473 B.C. Esther becomes queen of Persia and 15 years later
458 B.C. A second exile group returns to Jerusalem and Ezra is in this return focusing on rebuilding the temple.
445 B.C. Nehemiah comes in a third return and focuses on rebuilding the city of Jerusalem. Ezra and Nehemiah work together to form the story of how God re-establishes Israel and the land that he promised to her.
Isaiah was a prophet. Ezra was a priest. Nehemiah was neither. Nehemiah was a layman who served the Persian king in a secular position before leading a reformation of his day.
This is significantly aligned with what God is doing in this hour of the church. The “work of the ministry” is clearly communicated in Ephesians 4 as the call of God for ordinary believers in their everyday life.
Ezra takes spiritual leadership and spiritual authority to lead the people back to establish a spiritual foundation first. Then Nehemiah, in his “secular position” of influence, is used mightily by God to cooperate with the spiritual atmosphere of what God is doing in a very powerful and practical way!
The spiritual and the practical must come together and this is the order. God created the heavens and the earth. Pray in the spirit and with understanding. The Christ existed before Jesus was born. Jesus was born revealing God physically. Resurrected Jesus is at the right hand of the Father but the Christ never left the earth. We are the Body of Christ. We now carry His Spirit just like Jesus did when He walked on this earth.
We are the salt of the earth and we are the combination of spiritual and practical. Salt is sodium chloride. Sodium alone will kill you. Chloride alone will kill you. Without the combination of the two you die. The church must function spiritually and practically in order to see restoration of God’s work in the earth.
Your job is what you’re paid to do but your work is what you’re born to do.
Nehemiah was an ordinary believer in a government job serving the king and God used him mightily.
Nehemiah shows us how God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things when we submit our lives to his desires sacrificially.
Nehemiah was involved in tasks like working with city officials securing building permits, scheduling lumber and supplies to be delivered. It may not look like spiritual work, but it is all essential to the work of the spirit. Nehemiah‘s work is done by the power of the Holy Spirit.
As you read, you’ll discover how Nehemiah had incredible favor as he continually prayed about everything he did and God continually blessed his work. The first chapter begins with Nehemiah fasting and praying. There are 14 recorded prayers in this short book.
Maybe you have not felt like you are very spiritual in your vocation, but let me encourage you to explore the spiritual side of being supernaturally helped by God in everything you do.
GOD IS AT WORK IN THE CHURCH OF OUR DAY. YOU AND I WERE BORN FOR THIS HOUR! But make no mistake about it, sacrifice is necessary.
Nehemiah sacrificed significant comfort and success to help restore the church of his day. Nehemiah lived in palace. No position in the kingdom was closer to the king than his cup bearer. In this position Nehemiah had to be able to discuss politics, understand the legal system and he had to be handsome. Nehemiah was set and secure for life!
The people of God in Nehemiah‘s day had become distracted and were buying into faulty theology. Worship was not a priority and gathering around God’s word wasn’t taking place. The absence of teaching God’s Word made room for worldly ideology to invade their thinking. God’s people were beginning to embrace this godless Persian agenda as their own.
In many ways today God's people don't believe anything different than the woke culture around them. The eternal reality of God is very counter-cultural and we are supposed to be lovingly introducing a better way rather than walking the same way just trying to be a little more positive than others.
Jesus died to establish a church that would embrace the Truth of his Word and the reality of eternity as our way of life. The Bible speaks of a church that will emerge in that will have the appearance of worldly life but will be spiritually dead.
Revelation 3:1-6 …I know your deeds; you have a reputation for being alive, yet you are dead. 2 Wake up and strengthen what remains, which was about to die... 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. NIV
A church that is truly alive to the purposes of God will transform any society into which it exists. Everywhere we go we bring God’s presence to real life!
John 15:4-5 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. NIV
God is rebuilding and restoring the church of our day. This revelation of Nehemiah unlocks something significant in this hour of the church. I’m asking you to read Nehemiah several times as we journey through this together over the next few months. If you read two chapters a day you’ll read the book every week.
Everywhere we go….
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Read the book of Nehemiah this week committing to two chapters each day.