There are parallels between the nation of Israel and the life of Adam.
At the beginning of human history, Adam was created to live in God’s presence. He was created to do the good works God prepared for him. Adam was the envy of all creation, of even the angels in heaven. But Adam sinned and became a disgrace to God’s holy name.
Therefore, God banished Adam from his holy presence. He drove him out to work the ground from which he’d been created. And God placed cherubim and a flaming sword blocking Adam’s way back to the tree of the life. (Genesis 3:23-24)
These verses typify the nation of Israel in Nehemiah’s day. They, like Adam, had been banished from God’s holy presence.The temple in Jerusalem was the place where God dwelled forever and could be known.(2 Chronicles 6:2) In Psalm 27:4 (NIV)the psalmist says, "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple."
But the Israelites could no longer worship God in his holy temple. Because of their sin, they had been driven from Jerusalem into foreign lands. They were firstexiled to the Assyrian empire. Then they were exiled to Babylon, under the ruthless reign of King Nebuchadnezzar. And if that weren’t enough, when Babylon fell to the Persian empire, they were driven as far away as Susa. (see a map)
God had chosen Jerusalem as a dwelling for his holy name. But where do we find Nehemiah?In Nehemiah 1:1it says that he was in the citadel of Susa, over one thousand miles away from Jerusalem!
For all practical purposes, there was no way back to the city of God. Nehemiah may as well been on the other side of the universe. He couldn’t just hop on a jet plane, a luxury cruise liner, or the family mini-van and go back to Jerusalem. He was in an impossible predicament, far from God, separated by the power of hostile people and their swords, and threatened by dangerous terrain.
Adam, Eve, and Nehemiah all felt sadness when they were banished from God.
Sadness is realizing that you are in Persia, a thousand miles away from Jerusalem. It’s what Adam and Eve felt when they were banished from the Garden of Eden. It’s what Israel felt when it was exiled to distant lands. It’s what Nehemiah felt in Persia.Although he had many good things in the king’s court, he was far from God and God’s people.
Sadness is what you feel when the noise of life subsides. You should be close to God, feeling alive in his presence and Holy Spirit, doing his work, bringing glory to his name, and possessing joy and strength,but you’re in Persia. You’re a foreigner in a foreign land. And you don’t know the way back to that place where God would have you be. So your spirit grieves.
In Nehemiah 2:1-2 (NIV)Nehemiah writes, "In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before;so the king asked me, 'Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.' "
Call it what you may,depression, a mid-life crisis, discontentment, or a restless heart. Until we face the reality of our separation from God there willbe more sadness, not less. Last week we saw how Nehemiah confessed his sin, the sins of his fathers, and the sins of his people.
God never abandons his people.
Nehemiah’s one great hope was that God would remember his people, no matter how far away they found themselves from Jerusalem! Remember how Nehemiah prayed in Nehemiah 1:7-11 (NIV). "We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses. Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations,but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.'"
God never abandons his people, even after they sin, even after they’ve been banished anddriven out. God appeared to Moses in a burning bush. He led the nation of Israel as a pillar of fire by night, and as a cloud by day. His presence was felt through the Ark of the Covenant, in his holy tabernacle, and later in his holy temple. In the person of Jesus, the living God became man and dwelt among us and said, "Come, follow me." Jesus was and is the way, the truth, and the life. Today, God establishes his presence in believers through his Holy Spirit. God never forgets. He always remembers and he always opens a way back into his presence.
We may disgrace God’s holy name by our sin,but it is for God's own glory that he forgives us and redeems us. In Nehemiah 1:10-11 (NIV) Nehemiah prays, "They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man."
What do you believe about the Lord God?
Let me ask, what do you believe about the Lord God? Do you believe that he is sovereign over all things created? Things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities?Do you believe that God is sovereign over his creation?(Colossians 1:16)
Do you believe that God is sovereign over human history? Sovereign over the rise and fall of nations, kings, and kingdoms? Do you believe that God has a plan for his people? That he wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth? Do you believe that God acts according to his own glory, and that he will never allow his holy name to be disgraced and put to shame, now orever? And do you believe that God, having formed you in your mother’s womb, has a plan for your life? Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)
Nehemiah 2:1-8 (NIV) says,"… when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before;so the king asked me, 'Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.' I was very much afraid,but I said to the king, 'May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?' The king said to me, 'What is it you want?' "
"Then I prayed to the God of heaven,and I answered the king, 'If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.' Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, 'How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?' It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time. I also said to him, 'If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?' And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests. So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me."
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:28 (NIV) tells us, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
Romans 8:31-32 (NIV) continues, "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all— how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"
Romans 8:35 (NIV) says, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?"
Romans 8:37-39 (NIV) says,"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons (ANGELS? Like the ones blocking access to the tree of life we read about in Genesis 3:24?), neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
How about 1000 miles? How about banishment from Eden? How about being driven into exile into foreign lands? Will any of those things separate us from the love of God?
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV) tells us, "..if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
God is so much bigger than the distant Persia you find yourself in this morning. Why not let this be the morning you call upon the only name by which you can be saved: Jesus Christ? Why not let this be the morning you humble yourself and pray, and seek God’s face, and turn from your wicked ways? Why not let this be a day of forgiveness and salvation?