Psalms 8:1, 123:1-2, 5:1-3, 20:1-4.
My Shepherd met me in His green pastures where the Mind of the Spirit engaged the spirit of my mind in Nehemiah 9—but not in a particular verse. Rather, He engaged me on a thought that occurred to me as I was reading Nehemiah 10:1-31. The passage is too long to copy here, and there is no need. The point is that the Spirit listed the names of the Jews who entered into a renewed covenant with God. The key verse, therefore, is verse 29:
Nehemiah 10:29 They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes.
The thought that gripped my mind was this: God promised His people would be restored to their land after their seventy years’ service to Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon (Jeremiah 29:10; see Daniel 9:2; “seventy years” are the “days of one king” — Isaiah 23:15).
Along the still waters, I heard Jesus preach the parable of the householder to the scornful rulers of the Jews in His day, about 544 years after their captivity was to end (Matthew 21:34-44). In summary, He said, The Father planted a vineyard, and when the time of the fruit came, He sent His servants to receive its fruit (repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ—Acts 20:21). But the keepers of the vineyard refused to yield to the Householder His fruit. Each time the Father (the Householder) sent His servants to collect His fruit, the keepers killed them, stoned them, abused and rejected them. Then He sent His own Son. They saw that He was the heir and conspired to cast Him out of His vineyard and kill Him. Then I heard Jesus say, “The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof” (Matthew 21:43).
As I we continued walking along the banks of the still waters, I could hear Jesus crying out to them after about 544 years of being rebuffed by them: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often woul I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not” (Matthew 23:37).
I thought of the Jews who made the effort, the Jews who had a heart for God and desired to see the Temple rebuilt, and the land resettled and the kingdom restored in the hope of their Messiah (Ezra and Nehemiah). And my heart broke when I saw Daniel weeping because the people, as a nation, were not ready to embrace God’s promised restoration (Daniel 9:2-6). I wept as I considered the struggles Ezra and Nehemiah faced attempting to inspire the Jews to return (Ezra 1:1-6). Notably, out of the multitude of Jews dispersed, only a fraction returned (Ezra 2:64-65), with most preferring to “send support” but not return (Ezra 1:6; 2:68-69). I thought of the trouble Ezra had getting the Levites to return to Jerusalem (Ezra 8:15-20), the ease with which the enemies of the Jews dissuaded them and distracted them from the work, and how the leaders and prophets had to correct gross entanglements with the world (Ezra 10:1). And Nehemiah, almost 100 years after Cyrus fulfilled Jeremiah’s prophecy to decree the release of the Jews from their captivity (Jeremiah 29:10; Ezra 1:1; see Daniel 9:2), received the report that the streets were in disrepair and the walls of Jerusalem were burnt with fire (Nehemiah 1). Read the book, and see the trouble Nehemiah had not only with the enemies of the Jews, but also the indifference and reluctance of the remnant to honor the covenant they made with God under Ezra.
They failed to repopulate Jerusalem, preferring to remain in Babylon (Nehemiah 76:4). It was considered by many to be a great “sacrifice” to move to Jerusalem (Nehemiah 11:1-2). He struggled against their resistance to keep the Sabbath (Nehemiah 10:31; 13:15-22), the problem of intermarriages (Nehemiah 10:30; 13:23-29), neglecting the support of the Priests (Nehemiah 10:32-39; 13:10-14), an ungodly alliance between the High Priest’s family and the Jews’ enemies (Nehemiah 13:4-9, 28-29), and the outrageous breaking of their oath to God (Nehemiah 9-10, 13). It required a strong hand to govern them (Ezra and Nehemiah), with strong prophets to exhort and rebuke them (Zechariah and Hagai), to overcome their indifference to the things of GOD.
This continued throughout the 544 years till their Messiah actually came, and then they crucified Him. Nevertheless, God extended His offer to restore them until finally, in Acts 28:28, He declared the Gospel would be sent to the Gentiles, and they would receive it.
In the valley, kneeling in the shadow of His Cross, I thought of the Spirit’s warning: “Because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee” (Romans 11:20-21). We picked up the ball that the Jews fumbled. Will we keep it? The one great problem the Jews had was indifference, and the ease with which they drifted from GOD. I must check this spirit in my own life, but sadly, I see it fully operating in the Churches today. We are inclined as they were to get “settled on [our] lees” (Zephaniah 1:12). I cried, What shall we do? He said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). I did, and as I did I quoted one of my five life verses: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20).
At the table, He anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup with His grace. We walked together into the harvest, goodness and mercy following.
Praying for revival! 🙏
Going live asap:
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