The Weight of the Rubble

On the morning of November 8, 2018, the people of Paradise, California woke up to what looked like an ordinary day. Paradise was a town of about twenty-six thousand people in the foothills of northern California, that was founded back in 1877. Generations of families had built their lives in this town. Families had gathered around kitchen tables. Parents had marked their children's height on doorframes. Pictures hung on walls. Christmas decorations sat in attics. Old tools sat in garages. The town was full of the ordinary things nobody thinks much about until they are gone.

And by the end of the day, they were gone. Because what started as a small spark turned into an inferno that tore through the town with terrifying speed. Eighty-five people died. Tens of thousands were displaced. Most of the town was reduced to ash.

And when the fire was over, many residents returned to their homes to find only ash. After fleeing her home through walls of fire and flame, with her husband and four young children, Michelle Simmons reflected on the loss, saying: "It's so sad because, you know, that was our life."

Have you ever felt that kind of loss before? The kind of loss that makes you weep for days? I know many of you have. Maybe it wasn't the loss of a home, but the loss of a loved one. Or maybe for you it was watching that relationship fall apart. Or hearing a diagnosis you weren't ready for. Or watching a child walk away from the faith.

Whether you’ve experienced this or not, The truth is, we all eventually experience something like that.

If you’ve ever experienced that kind of loss and devastation, then you are beginning to understand the ache that opens the book of Nehemiah. But only beginning. Because the sorrow in Nehemiah 1 is not merely personal sorrow. It is deeper than that. It is heavier than that. And before this book ever shows us a man rebuilding a wall, it shows us a man broken by the weight of the rubble.

³ And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.” ⁴ As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Nehemiah 1:3-4 ESV

In these opening verses here, Nehemiah is completely heartbroken. as the news of his loss brings him to weep FOR DAYS! And yet… as we’ll see, In God’s loving grace and kindness, He turns Nehemiah’s sorrow into song. And this book shows us that God can do that for us too.

To move from rubble to restoration we must grasp:

1. The Sorrow.
2. The Story.
3. The Summons.

1. The Sorrow.

In verse 1, it tells us that this story takes place in the Citadel of Susa, Which is a city we are all too familiar with, as we just spent months in this city in our study through the book of Esther. But now the timeline jumps forward about 30 years, and there’s a new king in town. Because about 8 years after the book of Esther closes, King Xerxes is assassinated in his bedroom. And his son Artaxerxes takes the throne. And that’s a fascinating story we’ll look at next week, that makes any drama you watch on TV look like C-SPAN on a slow Tuesday.

But back to our story, Nehemiah is in a high ranking position of the king, his brother Hanani arrives with men from Judah, And look again at verse 3. Nehemiah hears that the remnant who survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is in rubble. And its gates are destroyed by fire.

And then verse 4:

⁴ As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Nehemiah 1:4 ESV

When Nehemiah hears this news, he is completely devastated! His heart breaks. His knees give out. And he weeps for days! And why? Why is Nehemiah weeping with such great sorrow? Nehemiah is weeping, not because his city is in ruins. But because God’s city was in ruins. Unlike Michelle Simmons who was was sad over her city being destroyed, Nehemiah is heartbroken over God’s. And if someone grieves like that over loss of their city, how much more should Nehemiah grieve the ruin of God’s city?

Jerusalem was the city where God had placed His name, the city built around the temple, where His people came to meet Him and worship Him. It was where God descended and dwelt with His people in covenant relationship. And when Nehemiah hears of the rubble, the devastation, it breaks him. And it’s not because he’s saddened for himself, it’s because he’s saddened for God, because he knows that the city’s devastation is devastating God’s name throughout the nations.

As we’ll see throughout this book, Nehemiah is a man who is consumed with the glory of God. But instead of sitting idly by, He does something about it. He goes to God, confesses his people’s sins, and begs God to do what God had promised. And HE DOES!

But before we get there, We have to understand God’s great story of redemption.

To move from rubble to restoration we must grasp:

2. The Story.

Now, if you’ve been at Eagles Nest for a while, then you know that any time that I begin a new book of the Bible or a new series, I usually spend at least the first week laying out the historical context. Which makes the history nerds like me rejoice. But I do this for a very important reason. It’s because I want you walk away with more than practical tips to live your life. I do want that. But my goal is a lot bigger than that. My goal is that we understand the Bible as a whole so we better grasp God’s big redemption story.

In fact, that’s exactly why we held off from jumping back into the New Testament, It’s because, Lord willing, by the time we are done with this book, We’ll see how these books we tend to be less familiar with all fit together.

So this morning, we are going to spend some time working through the history of the Bible so we can see the overall storyline. And then we'll dive into the details of this book next week. So if history really isn’t your thing, or maybe you’re new here and you aren’t used to this. Stick with me, because it will bless you if you do.

As verses 1 and 2 indicated, Nehemiah is living in the time of the Exile. And why were the Israelite people living in Exile? By now, if you don’t know the answer to that question after going through Daniel and Esther, then you’ve failed the class or I’ve failed as a teacher. And I’m definitely blaming you. So this next week, your homework is go back through those books and the entire sermon series.

But for now, the answer is because God’s people continued to break the Mosaic Covenant.

And in order to tell you what that is and why it matters, I have to tell you the story of the entire Old Testament up to this point. So that’s my goal here. That sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it? To tell the entire story of the Bible up to this point in less than four hours. I think we can do that.

Now, where does God’s great redemption story begin? It begins with a man named…? Adam. See, after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God promised that death and judgment wouldn’t be the last word.

Then, around 1600 years later, humanity becomes altogether sinful, except for one man. So God implements a full reset by flooding the world, and preserving Adam’s line through one man named Noah and his family.

Now, flash forward roughly 300 years after the flood. and what does God do? He births the nation of Israel through one man named Abraham, who was to be the father of this great nation. And you remember that story. Abraham and his wife Sarah were too old to have children, But God miraculously fulfills that promise and gives them Isaac who has a son named Jacob. And by the time you get to the book of Exodus, This family has grown into an entire nation.

Then, roughly 700 years later, God raises up a man named Moses to deliver His people. Because by Moses' day, God's people had been Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt for 430 years. But God hears their cry. And through Moses, He powerfully delivers them from bondage.

Then, at Mount Sinai. God gives them the law and the Mosaic covenant which came with conditions attached: Obey and I’ll bless you. Disobey me and I’ll curse you.

So that generation disobeys, They wander in the wilderness for 40 years. And the next generation is led by a man named Joshua into the land that God had promised to Abraham and his descendants.

So another 400 years go by. And the people want what the other nations have. They want a king. But the reason is really because, as God tells the prophet Samuel, They want this because they have rejected Yahweh God as their king.

So God gives them their first king, a man named Saul. Who is a terrible king who is judged by God and loses the throne. And then, God has Samuel anoint a young man named David to be king, who is a man after God’s own heart.

Israel then becomes a great nation. But it’s not long before even a man after God’s own heart proves himself to be unfit for the throne. He commits adultery and then murder to try and cover it up. His family is a total mess. But God preserves his throne through his son Solomon.

Is everyone still with me? Cuz we’re just about to the exile.

So Solomon builds the temple of God, which is a massive and beautiful place where God dwelt in the midst of His people. But towards the end of Solomon’s life, he breaks the Mosaic covenant by leading the people to worship false gods. And so God does exactly what He said He’d do. He judges them.

After Solomon dies, the kingdom enters a bloody civil war and eventually splits in two, With Israel in the North and Judah in the South. Israel in the north has all evil kings who lead the people to disobey God But eventually Judah catches up.

And so God does what He promised He was going to do. He sends judgment.

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their ancestors, repeatedly sent his prophets to warn them, for he had compassion on his people and his Temple. ¹⁶ But the people mocked these messengers of God and despised their words. They scoffed at the prophets until the Lord’s anger could no longer be restrained and nothing could be done. ¹⁷ So the Lord brought the king of Babylon against them. The Babylonians killed Judah’s young men, even chasing after them into the Temple. They had no pity on the people, killing both young men and young women, the old and the infirm. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁸ The king took home to Babylon all the articles, large and small, used in the Temple of God, and the treasures from both the Lord’s Temple and from the palace of the king and his officials. ¹⁹ Then his army burned the Temple of God, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, burned all the palaces, and completely destroyed everything of value. ²⁰ The few who survived were taken as exiles to Babylon, and they became servants to the king and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power.

2 Chronicles 36:15-20 NLT

First, 722 BC, the northern kingdom is taken captive by the Assyrians. And then, not long afterward, in 586 BC, the Babylonians do the same to Judah. And where is the Temple of God located? In the city of Jerusalem which is in Judah. That’s what Nehemiah is mourning.

Alright, we are to Nehemiah. But first we need to look at the next part in Israel’s story. Which is the Exile. And we saw that in the book of Daniel, And what life was like for the Jewish people living in Babylon. But during this time, God gives the people a promise through the prophet Jeremiah. Who says that exile will not last forever. It will continue for 70 years until God brings His people home.

As we saw in the book of Daniel, Babylon falls to Persia. And Persia ran things a whole lot differently than the Babylonians did. They let people return home… because their philosophy was that giving people this kind of freedom would produce loyalty.

So a Persian king named Cyrus suddenly decides to send the Jewish people home to rebuild their temple, So they can worship their God, and he pays the bill for it! And why? Because he read the prophet Jeremiah and wanted to be a part of God’s great plan? No. It’s because God was the one pulling the strings.

²² Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: ²³ “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up.’ ”

2 Chronicles 36:22-23 ESV

Do you see that? King Cyrus didn’t suddenly decide to do this. God stirred him up to do this. Because all of this was to fulfill the Word of the Lord.

That’s exactly what Ezra tells us - who we are going to talk about in a moment here. But the point is. God is the one running the show.

¹ In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia

Ezra 1:1 ESV

Church, is your God this big in your eyes? Proverbs says the king’s heart is a channel of water that he turns wherever He wishes. Do you believe that? Or do you believe Cyrus is sovereign, not Yahweh God. Because you only pick one!

And if you think the Cyrusus of this world are sovereign, not only are you wrong. But you won’t have hope living in the exile of this world.

And right now I would normally stop and camp out on a whole lot of application. But as I already told you, This isn’t that kind of sermon.

After Cyrus issues this decree. The first group of exiles return home under a man named Zerubbabel (try saying that 10 times fast). And their mission is to rebuild the temple of Yahweh. And they eventually get it done.

Then we have the book of Esther. And I just finished preaching that. So I’ll only point out that everything that follows happens because of how God preserved His people’s lives in that book. Because remember. The death decree wasn’t just for the Jews living in Susa. It was for ALL the Jews living throughout the empire.

Flash forward now about 80 years, And that brings us to the book of Ezra. And the book of Ezra and Nehemiah are in a lot of ways one book. Which is why we are going to reference Ezra throughout our study of Nehemiah. Ezra was a priest and scribe living in Nehemiah’s day, He led the second wave of exiles home, and his mission wasn’t to rebuild the temple or the walls. It was to rebuild the people’s hearts to obey and follow the laws of God.

And that brings us to Nehemiah. And all the people who failed history class said: “Hallelujah!” Do you realize we just went from Adam to Nehemiah in like 10 minutes… That might be a new world record. But are you getting the history of God’s grand redemptive story? Because you really do NEED to if you want to understand your Bible.

As we read from Nehemiah earlier. When he receives news that the city STILl isn’t restored. After two waves of Jewish people return home. It not only breaks his heart, it lights a fire in his heart to do something about it Because Nehemiah is a man consumed by the glory of God.

⁴ As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Nehemiah 1:4 ESV

Nehemiah is a man who never lived in Jerusalem. He never saw its walls. He never worshiped in the temple. And yet… his heart is broken over its rubble. Because he’s a man who loves God. And the glory of God is what mattered to him most. Which is also what summons us to care about most too.

To move from rubble to restoration we must grasp:

3. The Summons.

As we’ll see in the weeks to come. Like Queen Esther, Nehemiah, the king’s cupbearer, goes before the king, and requests to be able to return home to rebuild the city’s gates and walls. And after the king gives him permission, He travels a thousand miles to Jerusalem. He spends three days surveying the damage. and then pulls off the most impressive building campaign history has ever seen.

And for the record, can I just say… That is NOT why I picked this book… It’s not because we are in the middle of a building campaign. In fact, over the past weeks as I was preparing to preach this book, I was listening to a guy who said: “The only time we talk about the book of Nehemiah is when a church is about to go through a building campaign or doing leadership training.” And I laughed and thought to myself: “YEAH! THAT’S LAME! GET EM!” And I wish you could have seen my facial expression half a second after that moment. because then it hit me like a truck: “Ohhh… we are going through a building campaign…”

But honestly, THAT’S NOT WHY I PICKED THIS BOOK! It wasn’t because of our building campaign, and it wasn’t because I drew it randomly out of a hat! I’m sure some of you think I do it that way… But the real reason I picked Nehemiah, is because I believe this book is what we need as a church. In fact, part of me picked it because I’m a little bit selfish, and I know I need it. I need to understand God’s great redemption story in a fuller way. Yes, we’ve gotten some of that in Daniel and Esther. But for me… it wasn’t enough. I WANT MORE And I hope you do as well.

As one pastor put it. We can’t just be Gospel of John Christians… Don’t get me wrong - it’s a great gospel. But if your love for God and seeing all the angles of His glory never goes beyond that. Then you will never experience the hunger Nehemiah had for the glory of God.

Now is the part in an intro sermon where I go from the overall background of the book, to giving you the book’s themes. And I know that’s a terrible transition… but hey. It’s not that kind of sermon remember…

In this book, we will see what godly leadership looks like. We will see what it means to be a talker vs. a doer… The wall had been in rubble for over a century, and Nehemiah gets it done in 52 days. Nehemiah isn’t just a talker. He’s a doer!

But listen - Nehemiah isn't a doer because he was wired for productivity. He's a doer because his heart was gripped by the glory of God. And when a heart is gripped by the glory of God, it can't sit still. That's what we're going to see in this book. That's what God wants to do in us.

If you do ministry in a church long enough, you’re going find a lot of talkers. People with all sorts of ideas they like to talk about, but who never seem to get to the DOING part of it… And by God’s grace. This book is gonna stir us from being talkers into being doers. Just like Nehemiah was.

And I know what the talker in us thinks about this… We think… “Well if serving in ministry was as easy for me as it was for Nehemiah… then I’m sure I could be more of a doer too…”

And to that I say “newsflash” The wall didn’t go up easily for Nehemiah, so why think it will for you or me? Look, ministry is NEVER EASY! And if you think it is, it means you’re just a talker. Because talk is cheap! That’s the easy part. The hard part is when the rubber hits the road. Because as Nehemiah shows us. it’s on the road of faithfulness that we face hostility and opposition.

After Nehemiah finishes the wall, the story doesn’t end in chapter 7. It keeps going. Why? Because Jerusalem was not destroyed because of broken walls. It was destroyed because of broken hearts. And so after Nehemiah rebuilds the walls, he begins the even harder work of rebuilding the people’s hearts.

In Nehemiah 8-10, we see one of the greatest revivals in history. The priest Ezra shows up. He reads from the law of Moses - from books like LEVITICUS. And the people listen. They stand for HOURS while the Word of God is read. They weep over their sin. They confess it before God. They remember the faithfulness of Yahweh. And they renew the covenant, and recommit themselves to God, As they respond in worship. They bring in choirs and instruments. And the text says it was so loud that it could be heard from far away.

The book of Nehemiah shows us a God who brings restoration out of rubble. And look at how God accomplished this. Nehemiah wasn’t a priest. He was a layman - a cupbearer for the king. And yet through this man God brought restoration out of rubble

But even Nehemiah’s story points us to an even bigger story, doesn’t it

Think about it: Who is Nehemiah? He is a cupbearer who serves at the right hand of the king. And because of the broken and sinful state of his people he is sent by the king from a royal palace to a people living in desolation and despair. And he willingly does this, not because he has to, but because he wants to. He willingly sets his high position and status aside to risk death all for one purpose. The restoration of God’s people.

Does that remind you of anyone? It should… Because Jesus Christ is the new and greater Nehemiah. For He left not just a Persian kingdom, but the glorious kingdom of heaven. He was sent not by an earthly king, but by the King of Kings. He entered into our desolation and despair, not merely at risk to His life, but in order to lay down His life. In order to bring about the ultimate restoration; not the people's broken gates, but their broken hearts.

The story of Nehemiah isn’t about a great leader who heroically saves the day. In fact, when we get to chapter 13, we’re gonna see just how short-lived this leader’s accomplishments were… Instead, the story is about Jesus Christ, the Savior and Restorer of our broken world. He is the One who entered the rubble that sin made of God's good creation. He is the One who took the curse of our exile upon Himself at the cross. And He is the One who summons us to trust in Him by grace through faith. For He does more than restore a city from ash and rubble. He rebuilds broken hearts He restores sinners to God. And He is the One who brings us home.

This is the manuscript the sermon was preached from, so the recording may differ in places.