Up to this point the city of Jerusalem still looked like a ruin. The walls were little more than rubble, the gates were burnt stumps and it had been like this for nearly a hundred and fifty years (since the Babylonians destroyed the city in 586BC). Let’s remember that Jerusalem was to be the city through which God had chosen to manifest his glory to the earth (Isaiah 60:1-3,14; Psalm 102:15-16). This is why Nehemiah was so perturbed about the state of the walls. To the surrounding nations there was little sign of God’s restoration of his people. The promises about Jerusalem are promises that we can appeal to for the church, and indeed God is fulfilling these promises, initially, in his church. Jesus said that he was going to build his church (Matthew 16:18). His plan was to bring God’s family together again. And the community of God, the church, was to be a kind of provisional ‘New Jerusalem’ through which God would manifest his glory to the world. God builds his church in the same way as Jerusalem was rebuilt. He works through people as each person does their small part. The rebuilding of Jerusalem united the Jews again in God’s purpose. It drew them into their higher purpose by taking their focus away from building their own lives to building something together that was going to benefit them all. We too must think beyond our own lives. God wants us to unite together to build up his church. Each of has a part to play in this. What is your part?
Reflect on how you are contributing to building God’s church.
Read Nehemiah 2:11-3:32
