In closing this brief outline of the Book of Nehemiah a few additional remarks, as to its application to present day conditions, may not be out of place.
In regard to Israel it was God’s purpose to have His house in the city of Jerusalem, in the midst of a people dwelling in His Land. Connected with this purpose are three important principles. With the house there is the thought of God dwelling; with the city God ruling; and with the Nation and the Land God blessing. Where God dwells there God must rule; and when God rules God blesses. It is thus God’s purpose to dwell in the midst of a redeemed people, ruling over them for their blessing. This purpose will be realized in a day to come.
The Book of Nehemiah presents the story of a remnant of the nation acting in the light of God’s original purpose, or the whole nation, while waiting for the future fulfilment in the Millennial day.
Today the “material” in Israel has its “spiritual” counterpart in the Assembly of God. We know that the Assembly of God is presented as the house of God (1 Tim. 3:33Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; (1 Timothy 3:3)); and as the city of the living God (Heb. 12:2222But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, (Hebrews 12:22); Rev. 21.). Moreover believers are viewed as “an holy! nation” (1 Peter 2:99But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: (1 Peter 2:9)). So that again, we may say, it is God’s thought to dwell in the midst of a redeemed people ruling them for their blessing. God’s purpose for the, Assembly will be fully realized in the heavenly Jerusalem, as it will be for Israel in the earthly Jerusalem.
With the truth before us we are able to realize how far Christendom has departed from God’s purpose for His Assembly instead of God dwelling in the midst of a redeemed people, and ruling for their blessing we see a vast religious system in which every principle of God is set aside. It has its most pronounced expression in a great ecclesiastical organization (composed for the most part of unregenerate professors of Christianity instead of the redeemed), which, in place of being the habitation of God, will shortly become “the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird” (Rev. 18:22And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. (Revelation 18:2)). Moreover its rule, instead of being a blessing to Man, has corrupted the earth and persecuted the Saints (Rev. 16:18; 17:24; 19:2).
Further we see that the vast majority of God’s people have been taken captive in this great Babylonish system, though, by the grace of God, a few have been set free by having their eyes opened to see the truth of God’s Assembly as the house of God. The latter have sought to walk in the truth of God’s original thought for the Assembly while waiting for its full realization in glory.
Such, like the remnant in Nehemiah’s day, find themselves in circumstances of great weakness, faced with opposition and difficulties, and beset with snares. In the face of all difficulties they seek to maintain the holiness of God’s house, the rule of the city, and the blessing of God’s people. However the maintenance of the principles of God’s house would be their first charge; administration, or rule, would follow and, if rightly used, would be directly under the influence of the house and in harmony with its character and order; therefore for the blessing of God’s people.
It was thus in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. The revival of the house under Zerubbabel and others, and the restitution of its order through Ezra, was the first care of the remnant. Later the house was encircled by the city walls, and administration, or rule established in relation to the house. From the first the house was always accessible to every Israelite from every part of the Land, always supposing title and moral suitability, and conformity to the ordinances of the house. There was no question of its being restricted to the few actually dwelling within the city walls. If such had been the case it would have been a grave misuse of the walls, and have falsified the true character of the house by limiting its privileges to a select and self-constituted company.
On the other hand to ignore administration, or rule, consistent with the order and sanctity of the house, would be equally serious, leading to every man doing what is right in his own eyes; the failure to maintain the holiness of God’s house; and the loss of blessing to the people.
Thus we are warned that the holiness of God’s house and the blessing of God’s people, can be equally lost either by ultra-exclusivism on the one hand or latitudinarianism on the other.
If we desire to know God’s mind for the moment in which we live, we shall do well to go over these themes with God, remembering that, while “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,” yet certain scriptures have a very definite message for a day of ruin. Of such scriptures none, perhaps, have a more important place than the Book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament and the 2nd Epistle to Timothy in the New. May God give us grace to diligently seek His mind, in His word, and unreservedly submit to it. Thus only shall we be able to hold fast that which we have that no man take our crown.