Saturday March 21, 2015

Read Nehemiah 13:15-31

Nehemiah spent many years rebuilding the shattered wall of Jerusalem, after Nebuchadnezzar’s army obliterated it. The wall itself was only a stone wall with iron and bronze gates but it symbolised God’s protection and God’s blessing upon the nation. With the wall in ruins, everyone could see that God had abandoned and exiled  the people of Jerusalem.

But with the coming back of Nehemiah from Babylonia to Jerusalem, a new era had begun. The rebuilding of the wall symbolised the rebuilding of the people of God. As the wall grew, so the people grew in their resolve to be the people of God once again. That meant recommitting themselves to God and walking in obedience.

In chapters 8 and 9 this rededication is heartily and apparently genuinely given to the Lord. Yet in chapter 13 Nehemiah finds the people, among other things, trading on the Sabbath. Foreigners are also coming to trade on the Sabbath. The book of Nehemiah closes on a sad note with the people indulging in the same sins that caused the city to be attacked and exiled in the first place. It would appear, sadly, that nothing has changed.

One wonders why God and Nehemiah are so antagonistic to the people trading and working on the Sabbath. One wonders if Nehemiah was a little over zealous and perhaps a bit hasty in calling the Sabbath trading a “wicked thing”. After all, we shop on Sondays and many many many Christians work on Sondays. Does God need to get with the times and chill out a little?

We have already seen that there is a moral element regarding working on the Sabbath. We would be horrified if any of the other commandments were broken. Why should the Sabbath be any different? But added to this, working on the Sabbath shows that we value something or someone else more than God. In regards to work, Sabbath work shows that we don’t trust God and feel that we need to provide for ourselves apart from God. If greed is really idolatry (Col 3:5) then working on the Sabbath to get more money or to get ahead shows the content and state of one’s heart. In this case Nehemiah was completely correct in calling the thing being done ‘wicked’.

Added to this, we need to realise that when God makes a command, the command is not holy or righteous or good because of some intrinsic value in the command itself but it is holy and good because God Himself gave the command. There is nothing intrinsically good about the seventh day apart from the fact that God made it holy and that He Himself blessed it and He commanded it to be kept separate and dedicated to Himself. God could have chosen any day but He chose and sanctified the 7th day, the Sabbath.

Even more so, the Sabbath day was set apart for the people to grow in relationship with God. Sabbath is more than just a cessation of work. Rest is more than a cessation of labour and duties. A genuine Sabbath rest occurs when we meet with God and connect with God both individually and corporately. And considering the first two Great Commandments you can’t have a genuine Sabbath rest or connection with God without having a connection to each other.

So again, Nehemiah was right in calling the thing happening in Jerusalem ‘wicked’. The people were putting God on hold and worshipping the mighty dollar … I mean…  drachma!

By the end of Nehemiah we see that the wall was rebuilt but sadly, the people's hearts were not. They still eagerly sought to do the things their forefathers did - things which led to the exile and the destruction of the wall in the first place!

Prayer:

Based on today’s reading passage and notes jot down your own prayer points.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

· Pray that all believers in your congregation would be able to rest on the Lord’s Day, making connection with God and with fellow believers. Pray that each person would be greatly refreshed and renewed in Christ through this rest.

· Pray that we would see people growing in strength and being revitalised through their Sabbath type rest and not looking to holidays to do only that  which God can do.

 Discussion & Reflection

1. Should a Christian work on the Lord’s Day? Explain your answer.

2. What could a believer do if he or she were asked to work on the Lord’s Day and was threatened with dismal if they didn’t?