Nehemiah 9:4

Nehemiah 9:4 says, Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the Lord their God.  Some of the Levites stood up and called out to God in a loud voice.  As Christians and a part of the priesthood of believers, we need to call out to God today, especially if we know that we have not been following His will.  Even if we have, we need to openly proclaim our faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. 

Verse five adds, Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.  Several of the Levites then stood up and called on the people to bless the Lord their God forever and ever, Whose name should be blessed above all blessing and praise.  As I have stated before, I don’t believe that we actually can bless God, but we can show Him honor and respect by obeying His commandments so that He might be honored in the world.  Now, we can offer ourselves to Him in obedience, but I believe that the blessings always come from God to us.  Some people might view this differently, but it is my understanding. 

Verse six continues, Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.  As the priests said then, God is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and even the hosts of heaven worship Him.  Like the angels, though, we are given the choice of whether to worship Him or not, and like the angels who rebelled, if we don’t acknowledge God as the only God and come to Him by faith in His Son Jesus, we will be sent away to everlasting punishment.  Still, the choice is ours, just as it was for the people listening to the message of the priests that day. 

Verse seven states, Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham;  The priests went back to the time of Abram, whom God called to leave the land of Ur and renamed him Abraham after he obeyed God’s call.  I don't believe that we need to change our name today when we become a Christian, but we do change who our Father is.  This doesn’t mean that we should no longer think of our earthly father as such, since we are still to honor both our father and mother, but we have a new spiritual Father. 

Verse eight adds, And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous:  The priests then said that God had made a covenant with Abraham and his seed, the people of Israel, to give them the promised land and he did.  Since it tells us that they had found the book of God in the temple and had read it, I think they were just sharing with the people what God’s word said, and that is what we as followers of Christ must do today.  If we haven’t been doing so, we need to dig into the Bible, God’s written word, and pray that thorough the leadership of the Holy Spirit we might better understand His word.  We will never understand it all in this lifetime, but we need to continue to dig deeply into it.   

 

Nehemiah 9:1

 Nehemiah 9:1 says, Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.  On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month the people had humbled themselves.  They did so by fasting, wearing sackcloth, and covering themselves with dirt.  This was symbolic of how they viewed themselves in comparison to God.  We may not go to this extreme today when we worship God, but we need to still know that we are worthless before God of our own merit.  Until we are willing to humble ourselves before God, we cannot truly worship Him. 

Verse two adds, And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.  The people of Israel then separated themselves from all strangers and stood and confessed their sins and the sins of their fathers to God.  I don’t believe we are to physically separate ourselves from non-believers as Christians, since we cannot reach them with the gospel if we do, but we are to spiritually separate ourselves from the world.   Also, we only have to confess our sins to God and not those of others, since each individual must confess their own sins in order to be saved. 

Verse three continues, And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the Lord their God.  For a fourth of the day, they read God’s book of law and for another fourth of the day they confessed and worshipped God.  We might have left after an hour or two, or tuned out if we didn’t, but worship service should still consist of reading and learning God’s word and confessing our sins to Him and worshipping and singing praises to God.  Worship should be something we enjoy and not something that can't be over quick enough.

 

Nehemiah 8:9

Nehemiah 8:9 says, And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.  Nehemiah the ruler and Ezra the priest along with the Levites told the people not to weep, because this was the day of the Lord their God.  They were weeping because when they heard the words of the Law, they knew they were guilty, just as we are guilty under the Law of God, but they were told not to weep, because through faith they could be made free. When we come to a saving knowledge of God, if we weep, it should be happy tears, because by faith, we are set free from the penalty of sin. 

Verse ten adds, Then he said unto them, Go on your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.  Once more, the people were told to enjoy their day, to eat and feed those for whom nothing was prepared because this was a joyous day of the Lord.  When we gather as the church today, we should be a rejoicing people, and we should also be willing to help those in need.

Verse eleven continues, So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved.  The Levites, those who served in the worship services, then told the people once more to rejoice and not be grieved.  Once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, there is no need to continue to grieve.  We don’t need to carry around the burden of our sins, because the slate has been wiped clean. 

Verse twelve concludes, And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.  The people rejoiced because they had understood the words proclaimed to them.  Anytime we understand what God is saying to us and respond to it by accepting His word by faith, we should go on with our life but now do so by rejoicing in the salvation that God has provided for us. 

Verse thirteen states, And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law.  The next day, all the leaders of Isreal, along with the priests and Levites, gathered to understand God’s word better.  We should always gather together to understand God’s word as followers of Christ, and we need to pray that our preachers and teachers do so.  If we are going to follow God, we need to know what His word says, especially if we are a Christian and have accepted God’s gift of salvation. 

Verse fourteen adds, And they found written in the law which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month:  They understood that the children of Israel, God’s chosen people, were to live in tents during the seventh month.  We today do not have feasts that we must keep, but we do have the command to live by God’s word under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. 

Verse fifteen continues, And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.  The people were told to go and gather the branches necessary to make booths so that they could fulfill God’s Law.  They may have been God’s chosen people, but the still needed to obey His law.  As Christians, spiritually we are a part of God’s chosen people, but we still need to do everything we can to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit as we worship and do God’s will today. 

Verse sixteen says, So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim.  The people obeyed the word of God that had been presented to them and so must we today if we are going to be successful in both our spiritual everyday life.  I don’t believe that we can separate the two.  We cannot live by God’s word when we are gathered together to worship Him and not live by His word the rest of the time.  Everything we do as followers of Christ should be done under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Verse seventeen adds, And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness.  The people who had come out of captivity to return to Israel made booths in accordance with Gods word, something they hadn’t done since the days of Joshua.  If we find that we haven’t been doing what God calls us to do, we need to repent and return to following the leadership of the Holy Spirit and doing what God has called us to do. 

Verse eighteen continues, Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner.  The people continued to do what God had commanded as the book of the Law, God’s word, was read to them, and they declared a solemn assembly on the eighth day of the month in accordance with God’s word.  We likewise need to gather together to worship God and learn more about what His word says to us. All that we do should be done in accordance with God’s word under the direction of the Holy Spirit.