PIECES OF THE PUZZLE - THE REFLECTION OF CHRIST IN NEHEMIAH (PART FOUR)

A HOPEFUL CRY FOR THE NEXT NEHEMIAH

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf) 

 The people of Nehemiah's day were in transition.  

They probably thought the great days of God with their nation had passed, and that all of God's great deeds had already been done.  They had lost any sense of mission, any sense of calling, any sense of challenge.  As a result, they almost missed their chance to see God act powerfully among them.  They almost missed the chance to experience His reclaiming them as His beloved people all over again.

Isn't that much as our world is today?  

Where are the Nehemiahs of today?  

Are you a Nehemiah?  It is time to come forth!

The church must begin to call all people with the spirit of Nehemiah forth and put them in charge of the task of restoring the Kingdom of God to the earth.  

 Thank God for Nehemiah pointing the way to Christ, and thank God if you can find a modern Nehemiah hiding in the culture where we currently live.  We are in desperate need of such people!  I pray that each and every one of them will receive their calling and come forth.

The Church has walls and gates to rebuild!  

In an amazing period of just 52 days - under constant threat of attack - the walls of Jerusalem were raised.  It was a great miracle.  We need another such miracle for the walls around our church congregations today.  

Time is drawing short.  

The Bride must be ready.  We must begin to rebuild.  

Our leaders, much like Nehemiah, must take a deep breath and begin their tasks.  Who will come and dedicate their lives to help finish this great work?

In congregations across the land you can hear the people of the churches groaning! They groan and they moan.  

They sit and wait for things to change. 

That certainly was not the case with Nehemiah.  Nehemiah was willing to DO something. 

He makes the journey to Jerusalem himself, after convincing the king that he should be allowed to go.  He brings with him supplies and leadership. Nehemiah had a clear vision from God.  He KNEW the walls were torn down and needed rebuilding. He REALIZED there were no gates of protection. 

The people themselves needed to be rebuilt.  He set about to change things. 

The walls became the metaphor for the broken people. 

Nehemiah was not just mending a wall - he was mending a nation.  The nation of Israel was God’s tool for speaking to the world.  Their voices must be heard.  The Church is God’s voice today for speaking to the world.  These voices must increase and become louder!

The silence must end.  

The entertaining and babysitting must stop.  

The real work must begin.  

We need stronger walls and gates!  We need brave and courageous people! 

We need to love one another and get along with one another and seek God's face together.

 We need to be willing to listen to what God tells us collectively, as a nation.

With Nehemiah's Godly leadership, the people of God once again became great.  This happened because they were willing to work together under God's leadership to accomplish a common goal.  

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

The unity of our faith must be restored.  

All of God’s people must work together.

 In Nehemiah’s time everyone pitched in to do the work.  That is; everyone but those who opposed the work that God had led Nehemiah to do.  There will always be opposition.  There were those who did everything they could to stop the rebuilding of the walls and gates of the city.  

Opposition to the church is rampant in our culture today.  We can expect it, but our God is greater than the opposition!  

God is calling out to all the new Nehemiahs!  Nehemiahs are to be over-comers.  Nehemiahs are to be builders.   

This is not the time to stop - this is the time to go to work!

The Godly people of that day in which Nehemiah lived handled much adversity and opposition to obtain the restoration of their city.  

God only promised us that the Kingdom will be good.  He never said it would be either easy or safe. We must hold on to our hope.  We must be minding the gaps and defending our brothers!  We must keep moving forward and looking up as Nehemiah did.  

With Christ as our hope, the people of God are always moving forward, always seeking God’s Face and always helping and allowing His will to prevail in the earth. 

Because of Nehemiah's godly leadership and the people's godly spirit of unity, a broken, disorganized, discouraged bunch of individuals who were alienated from God and from one another transitioned into a strong, well-organized, deeply committed and proud community.  They were rededicated to God, recommitted to each other, and when this happened they began to be respected by their enemies.

God's people haven’t changed much through time.  They still face similar dilemmas, and they still ask the same hard questions.  They consistently have their periods of doubt and faith.  But true men and women of God keep looking toward a river whose streams shall make glad The City of God.  Like the few good men in the days of Nehemiah, they look to the future with the hope of a restored Kingdom, where God is in the midst, and they shall not be moved. 

May our hearts join in with Nehemiah’s once more; and may the sound of Non Nobis Domine – “Not to us Lord, not to us but to Your Name give glory” ring across the churches in the land.  

The time has come!  

Let us arise and build!

PEN ART - THE REFLECTIONS OF CHRIST IN NEHEMIAH - PART THREE

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

 In Nehemiah's day, the beginning of all the building started in a spot that was deemed the most important place in the wall.  The place was known as the wall around the Sheep Gate.  This gate, The Sheep Gate, represents Jesus, our Good Shepherd. 

This is the gate mentioned in John 5:2; the gate beside the pool of Bethesda.  It is the gate beside the pool with five porches, which could easily stand for five types of ministry. 

This is the gate where the sheep were washed and brought into the temple for sacrifice.  The first step to building up the walls in the body of Christ is salvation.  Salvation is obtained here at The Sheep Gate.  This is where salvation begins by opening the door where The Good Shepherd stands waiting on His sheep.   Here we are washed of our sins, just like the sheep in Nehemiah's day.   Jesus hears us, invites us, receives us and takes us and washes us clean. 

 The priest who offered up the sacrifices were required to live in this area.  They had to live next to The Sheep Gate.  They were there to minister to the people who came seeking salvation.   One priest was designated as the High Priest.

 

 In the days of  Nehemiah the High Priest's name was Eliashib. 

 "El" means "God." 

"Yashib" means "to go back." 

Reading backwards as the Hebrews do - we can hear a message even in the name of the high priest who worked at The Sheep Gate.  The message says "go back to God" - or REPENT.

So it is recorded by Nehemiah that the wall around the Sheep Gate was built by one whose names meant "repent." 

 This gate is the perfect Old Testament picture of the New Testament sacrifice of The Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. 

This gate shows us the cross.

Here at The Sheep Gate we are lead to think immediately of the prophet Isaiah's great words about Jesus; "as a sheep before the shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth."  (Isa. 53:7).  

 At the Sheep Gate of our lives there is a principle of death at work.  It is the death of the natural self.  It is the way we come to our own cross.  We are called to obey Christ, to follow Him and to walk with Him.  That means that some of our desires, some of our natural longings must be put to death.  Our old self must die and be buried under the water of The Sheep Gate.  That is the principle of the cross.  This is the example that Jesus gave for us as He too died and was buried.  He rose on the third day!

This Sheep Gate in our lives is a gate that must be kept in repair if we want to grow into a strong Christian.  We must die to ourselves and rise to live in Christ.  It is the gate where we leave behind the old man and put on the new man.  Like the sheep in the days of Nehemiah when they came to the pool, we go down in the water with our old sinful lives, dirty and unclean and we come out of the pool clean and made new.

 A gate is an opening.  The cross symbolized by this Sheep Gate, is an opening to God.  A beginning.  A beginning is an entrance to something completely new.  God makes all things new!

 On each side of the Sheep gate in the Holy City of Jerusalem the walls lead to two towers, one tower in each direction. 

The first tower is named "Meah."  "Meah" means "Hundred." 

The second tower is called The Tower of Hananeel - which means - "God is gracious and merciful."  "Hanan" means "gracious and merciful."  "El" means "God." 

Reading backwards as the Hebrews do, we have a message revealed in the walls around the Sheep Gate:  "God is gracious and merciful."

 Reading the gate and the wall by the meanings of the names of the places in the wall we come to see an Old Testament message with a New Testament meaning:  "The walls of Salvation built by one named "repentance" stands between two tall towers that say "God is gracious and merciful to hundreds."

 In the Old Testament, in the story of Nehemiah, there is a gate of sacrifice in the middle of a wall of salvation called The Sheep Gate that opens the way to God for mankind. 

This is beautiful picture that God has painted and hid within the walls of The Holy City for those with eyes to see. 

It is just like a thousand other Old Testament pictures of Christ that brings us hope. 

It is a reason to hold on to our belief in God and to cling to our faith in all circumstances; even when we appear to be as broken down as Nehemiah's walls.

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 141 - RESPECTING THE NAME OF GOD

RESPECTING THE NAME OF GOD

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

So we are still up on the mountain with Moses and God is still explaining the ten best ways for people to live.  

Moses has already heard two very important commandments; “You shall have no other gods before Me ” and “You shall not build an idol or worship a graven image.”  God seems to be reminding Moses that He should be the ONE taking center stage in His people's lives, and that He should be the most important thing about our daily lives.  

God has miraculously brought the people out of a pagan culture and into a place where they can now follow Him with their whole hearts!  He is making it plain to them that everyone should always honor and revere Him as The One and Only God of Heaven and Earth.  Included in that act of worship (did you know that cheerfully obeying commandments can be considered a form of worship?)  would be the act of  honoring God’s Holy Name.  His name is sacred and very special.  It is the name above all names which is to be given all honor and glory and praise. 

If you stop and think about it you will realize that God could not have received His Holy name from anyone else but Himself.  He did not have parents to pick out his name as you and I did.  He chose it.  He chose His name with intention and finality.  He chose His name to be higher than any other name ever uttered under the heavens.  As a matter of fact, His name is so sacred that the ancient people would not even pronounce it out loud or write it down!  They were so afraid of saying it or writing it wrong!  So they chose to use a substitute that meant "for the name of God" in place of  the real name of God when they spoke and wrote.  They thought the only One worthy enough to pronounce God’s name out loud was God Himself.  Mere, human and unclean lips should not utter such a holy name! 

Strange as it sounds, we do the same thing in another way.  We say "God" for the name of God, which is given as the tetragrammation YHWH in Hebrew and frequently pronounced as Jehovah and Yahweh and written in most English editions of the Bible as "the Lord"  owing to the Jewish tradition of reading it as Adonai ("My Lord" ) out of respect. 

Moses, being more in tuned to the times than we are today, must have had a much deeper understanding of this concept when God began to explain that His Holy Name should never be taken in vain.  God had spoken His name to Moses at the burning bush.  Moses had been told to remove his shoes because he was standing on holy ground.  

Ancient Jewish legend has even taught that at the time God proclaimed “Thou shalt not take the name of God in vain”; the entire universe trembled!  The witnesses from below when Moses was on the mountain with God saw thunder and lightning and felt the earth quake.   The “trembling of the earth” would represent the powerfulness of this commandment and the reverent way that we should always be approaching the name of God.  It would emphasize the importance of such a time.  This statement given to Moses commanding the people to respect the name of God could possibly be interpreted to mean:  “Do not exploit my name!”

Just what does that mean anyway?  

What are people typically doing  today that exploits the name of God?
     

Different people and cultures seem to interpret this meaning in different ways. It is a topic that often comes up, even in social media discussions.  People participating in on-line discussions have a common expression that they often use called “OMG.”  It is out there like so many other popular acronyms used by our high-tech culture.  This particular acronym is tossed around a lot, and it is very offensive to many Christians because they perceive it to be taking the name of God in vain.  (Unless you are extremely southern like me and think the letters stand for “Oh my goodness!” ) 

Even if you think this little acronym means something else and DOES NOT take God’s name in vain; it is probably best not to offend people by using it.  It might be a good and righteous practise not to use this acronym simply out of respect for God and others.  This is just one small example of how this wide-ranged topic of respecting the Name of God can be interpreted.  There are a vast number of concepts to be considered when we think about the subject and how we can best respect the Holy Name of God. 

Perhaps God has even bigger concerns here than our occasional slip of the tongue (or the fingers if you are typing text.)    It might be wise to dig a bit deeper into this territory and consider that our words tend to always reveal the truth about who we are.  God makes sure to state that we should love Him with our whole heart just BEFORE He begins to give us the commandment not to take His name in vain.  If we ARE  loving God with our whole heart; we are more likely to be proclaiming good and worthy things concerning His name and most likely we will not be intentionally throwing His Holy Name into places where it does not belong. 

Have you ever noticed how the most serious moments of our lives are usually clothed in the form of vows that we take in the name of God?  

For instance, when a couple marries they are said to be “given in matrimony under the name of God.”  Therefore; in a case where a person breaks their marriage vows, they could be considered to be taking the name of God in vain.  Most people never stop to consider this aspect of that situation.  It is bad enough that a person is in a sin; doing something very wrong, but adding taking God’s Name in vain to the equation gives it even more weight on the wrong side of the scales of justice. 

When a person goes to court to testify they are asked to put their hand on the Holy Bible and swear using the words “so help me God.”  This is to insure that they are telling the whole and honest truth.  To swear a lie would be to take the name of God in vain.   Usually a sin is a sin; is a sin, but in this case the sin grows!  Not only have you told a lie, you have misrepresented your honesty before God with your lie.   

Our high officials also take an oath in front of God to protect the citizens of our country.  This is to hold them accountable to the highest power that is in existence.  If they are not honest and not accountable to the people; they dishonor the name of God with their service. 

An oath taken under the name of God is a very serious thing!

The scriptures make it very plain that God does not condone perjury!  He will not take deliberate deceptions made in His name lightly. 

We are reminded in the holy scriptures to let our “yes” mean “yes” and our “no” mean “no.”  In other words; say what you mean and make sure it is true!  When we lie, as children of God (even when we are not under oath); we take His name in vain because He has written His name across our hearts and sealed us as His children.  We are to represent His ways through how we live out our lives.  God NEVER lies and He doesn’t want His name associated with lies that we tell either.  When you are a Christian the act of misrepresenting God is surely a sin; and it could be considered to be taking God’s name in vain.  Most people never give a thought to this.  How many little white lies have you told today?  Please don’t ask me to answer the same question!  We all are subconsciously guilty from time to time. 

 

Even though curse words are probably the shallow water in the whole over all flood of this deep, deep problem in our society; they too are to be considered.  We must guard against using curse words in our language because we are representatives of the One True God who lives within us.  

James 1:26 says:  “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.”  Don’t let your mouth defile your witness as a child of God; that would be taking the name of God in vain and it would totally destroy any goodness of the testimony of your daily life.  It is good to let everything that comes out of our mouths be pleasing and acceptable before God.

Another common way we encounter the misuse of the name of God is when people twist the meaning of scriptures and use them to their own advantage in order to get their own way instead of conforming their lives and ways to the true meaning that God intended.  Using God’s power to get your own way is truly a sin.  This too would be a form of taking God's name in vain. 

   

The up-side of keeping this third commandment of God is the fact that it keeps truth in our lives.  Truth always leads to true justice and freedom.  This is what God wanted for the Israelites as He brought them out of a pagan culture and led them toward the land of promise.  We would all do well to take such a spiritual journey in our own lives.  Coming out of pagan ways brings us to the place of living inside God’s promises. 

We must continually be aware of the fact that to lie in the name of God is blasphemy.   We have so many good scriptures that can be used to bring us through these stormy waters whenever we are feeling unsure of what we want to say.  The three scriptures below are very useful to memorize and remember concerning our speech and actions as God’s representatives on this earth:

1.  Proverbs 10:32:  The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked, what is perverse.

2.  Colossians 3:8:  But now you must put them all away; anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

3.  Ephesians 4:29:  Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

These scriptures are very helpful; and focusing on the full meaning of this commandment is crucial to fully understanding their full meaning.  If all one needed to do to keep the third commandment was to avoid certain socially unacceptable words, it would be the easiest of all the commandments to keep.  This isn’t the case!  The meaning goes much further than that. 

It is possible that God could have been saying:  “Don’t speak for me; let me do my own speaking!”  

Have you ever been around someone who constantly states that “God told me to do this” and “God told me to do that” and then you come to realize that they are simply justifying reasons for their own desires and using the name of God to make you agree to it; or to make what they are doing wrong or selfishly or in greed sound holy?  This happens all the time.  

The ancients used to do this with the names of their pagan gods.  They would say “Baal is going to send good weather” or “Zeus is going to get revenge on my enemies!”  God did not want his people using His name in such a casual and common way, as if they could decide what God would be thinking for the day!  The pagans made the name of their false gods seem common and ordinary.  The One True God wishes for His holy name to be used in relation to the extraordinary.  It should always proclaim the sacredness and holiness of Who He is.

And so we come to the end of the giving of the first three best ways to live.  They all portray how man should be relating to God.  God gave a very good explanation to Moses of how He wished to be treated by those whom He has chosen to love.  He desires to be revered, respected and honored.  He wants first place in our lives and our hearts.  This would be the groom's part of repeating the wedding vows of the covenant, and God is clearly stating his desire for the sacred relationship of the marriage covenant with Israel.   

We all must be careful to obey these first three commandments that draw us closer to God, especially the one discussed here today that states we are to treat the name of God with great respect and holiness.  

PEN ART - THE REFLECTION OF CHRIST IN NEHEMIAH-PART TWO

HAVE YOU FOUND YOUR PLACE IN THE WALL?

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

We have been pondering the following scripture passage found in Nehemiah 2:11-18:  

11 - So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days.  

12 - Then I arose in the night, and I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem, nor was there any animal with me except the one on which I rode.  

13 - And I went out by night through the Valley Gate to the Serpent Well and The Refuse Gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire.

14-Then I went on to The Fountain Gate and to The King's Pool, but there was not room for the animal that was under me to pass.

15-So I went up in the night by the valley and viewed the wall;then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.

16-And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; I had not yet told the Jews, the Priests, The Nobles, The Officials, or The Others Who Did the Work.

17- Then I said to them:  "You see the distress we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire.  Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach."

18-And I told them of the Hand of My God which had been good upon me and also of the king's words that he had spoken to me.  So they said, "Let us rise up and build."  Then they sat their hands to do this good work.

 After a very careful survey and a look at every detail of the walls and gates of Jerusalem; Nehemiah turns and reenters the valley through the same Valley Gate from which he came.  

Jesus Christ, now having ascended into heaven is sitting at the right hand of The Father.  He is there taking surveys; looking down at the walls of our lives.  He is examining us, talking with us, pointing out the things that He wishes us to see and do to those walls that surround His Church, His Bride.  

He sees how broken we are.  

He sees the decay and the rot of sin.  

He knows what shape we have let ourselves become, a shape unfit for protecting a righteous kingdom.  

Now is the time to hear what He is saying to the churches.

 Now is the time to listen and obey.  

He speaks of a vision of restoration, oh that our hearts might be willing to hear!

We must speak with Him now, this moment, while He is sitting in the place of Peace, because the day is coming when He will leave the place in the Heavens again and He will reenter this earth.  

He will walk again through the dark valley and through the earth full of forgiven sinners, those like you and me, those He willingly died for.   

When He begins to re-enter that Valley Gate again, there will be times on earth of trials and tribulations like there has never been before, or ever will be again.

Right now Christ is moving like Nehemiah as he was surveying the walls.  He is busy looking things over.  He is examining the situation.  He is listening to the voice of The Father.  He is asking God what SHOULD be on this earth.  He is thinking of restoration and new life in the midst of  all the rubble and chaos.

 In verse 16 Nehemiah says "The officials did not know where I had gone, or what I was doing, because as yet, I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work." 

In the same manner as Nehemiah with his few good men at his side; Jesus did not speak to the Pharisees and the religious rulers of His day.  He spoke only to his little band of followers, those earthy men who trusted in Him.  He revealed things to those who believed the truth He brought from heaven.  

Even today, as He speaks from Heaven, He doesn't always speak to the rulers and famous religious leaders, but often He speaks to the poor, the humble, the gentle, the common, loving people of God who are following His lead and listening to His voice in their lowly every day lives.  He reveals His truths to His faithful followers, the ones who stay with Him till the end through thick and thin and trials and tribulations; he continues to speak to the true ones that He has called.

When Jesus Christ returns to earth, just as when Nehemiah turned around from following and surveying the destruction of the walls; one of the first things Jesus's eyes may see, will be the same picture that Nehemiah saw back in those days -  He may see Jerusalem lying in ruins.  

That Holy City that He loved will be destroyed and it will lie in ruins.  Jerusalem's gates may again be burned with fire, but Our Lord will turn to His people and say (just as Nehemiah said to his men)  "Come - let us rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace!"

 And "So they began the good work," in the days of Nehemiah - in the days of Christ, and so God's work continues in the days of our lives.  

What a beautiful picture of the face of Nehemiah, reflecting the face of Christ, in the hope of restoration of a Kingdom and a Nation.

 All this is amazing to think about and wonderful to look forward to; but how can we apply this story in a practical way to our own lives in this present age?

 Nehemiah put much prayer and thought into this work of God.  He only listened to what the Lord had to say, so he only did things the way the Lord wanted them to be done.  He told the people to start right where they were living.  They each were instructed to build the walls along the portion of the city that they lived the closest to.

Where are you living?  

How do you need to build?  

What walls are broken in your own life?  

You need only to look at your own front door to find the starting place you have in The Kingdom of God.  

Start today, right where you are living.  Follow the great instructor, Jesus Christ; and begin to repair the walls of your life.  

If every man in every city did this, the cities of our country would be healed.  

If every city did this the states of our country would be healed.  

If every state did this the country would be healed.  

If every country did this the world would be healed.  

If we want to repair the world it all has to start at each individual believer's front door.

What an inspiration for the church today.  This isn't a complicated and complex plan as many might think!  

We just have to start with our own place in the wall.  We live out a witness in our own homes and our own families, and our own neighborhoods.  We stand for God in our work places, and our social activities in the community.  

We simply have to start in the place where God has put us, and we can begin to grow out from our own home base.

Have you been waiting?  

Why?  

Jesus says "Come - Let us rebuild!"