The Gospel According To Nehemiah

 

He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light by night.  They asked, and He brought quail, and gave them bread from heaven in abundance.  He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed through the desert like a river.  For He remembered His holy promise, and Abraham, His servants.  So He brought His people out with joy, His chosen ones with singing.  --Psalm 105:39-43

The word "gospel" originated in Old English, combining gōd meaning "good" and spel which is "news," or "a story."  In modern English it means "the teaching or revelation of Christ."  In common usage, it is a set of principles or beliefs, and also something that is absolutely true.

When we think of gospel or "gospels" in the Bible, we think of the first four books of the New Testament.  In this essay I want to show that the good news, the absolute truth of the revelation of Jesus Christ is found throughout the Scriptures, not just in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  Come along with me and see if you agree.

Let's begin in the book of Nehemiah.  Now this is not a book that springs to mind immediately when we think of sharing the good news of Jesus.  In fact, along with the book of Ezra, it is basically a history of the Jewish exiles returning to their homeland, and the rebuilding of the capital city of Jerusalem after the 70 year exile in Babylon.  The bulk of the story is Nehemiah's leading the people in rebuilding the wall around the city, and overcoming many obstacles including threats of violence from other nations living in and around Palestine.

In chapter 8 we see Nehemiah's friend Ezra reading the Torah, the Book of the Law that God had given them.  All of the people gathered around to hear these words read aloud for the first time in a generation.  They wept when they realized how far they had gotten from God's law.  Nehemiah declared it a holy day, (the origin of our word holiday), and encouraged the people, saying, "Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." (Nehemiah 8:10).

God is creator and sustainer of all things

Our focus today will be on Nehemiah chapter 9, in which the entire gospel is laid out step by step.  The first declaration of good news is that God created us.  Read with me verse 6: "You are the Lord, You alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and You preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you."

This is good news, because it means there is order and purpose in life.  Life did not begin from chemical reactions stemming from oceanic heat vents releasing gases and energy.  Nor did we evolve from primordial cells through a process of evolution.  If that were so, then life on Earth is one giant accident, and life has no meaning.  There would be no reason for moral development, because Man, the epitome of the evolutionary process, would exist and operate like the lesser animals.  The meaning of life would only be the survival of the fittest, kill or be killed.

On the contrary, if we know that God created us in His own image, then we do have a moral basis, and life has meaning and purpose.  Christ came to clarify that meaning and purpose for us.  As it says in Colossians 1:15-17, "He (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or ruler or authorities--all things were created through Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."

Christ is all we need

The entire 9th chapter of Nehemiah is a praise song, sung to God for what He has done for His people.  The people were reminded of Abraham, their forefather, and how God blessed him.  They were reminded of Moses, the descendant of Abraham who had led them out of slavery in Egypt.  They were also given the hope of a savior, who we now know is Jesus, the Son of God.

Let's read verse 15.  "You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and You told them to go in to possess the land that You had sworn to give them."  If you are familiar with God's provision during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, you will recall the stories.  Scripture often recalls those miracles, not because of an obsession with the past but also as a prophecy for the future.  How would they know the Savior when He appeared?  He would fulfill those signs and symbols in such a way that it would be obvious to anyone who had eyes to see.

Bread

One of the elements of survival for any living creature is food.  God provided food in the wilderness, food the likes of which had never been seen before.  The people called it manna which basically means, "what is it?"  Even though they didn't know exactly what it was, or where it came from, it did sustain them for the duration of their lives, until they reached the Promised Land.

Jesus said, "I am the bread of life.  Your fathers are the manna in the wilderness, and they died.  This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die'.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

Water

Another element of survival is water.  In the most dire circumstances, and over the bitterest complaints, God came through by providing a spring of water from a rock.  There were no visible springs or rivers in the wilderness where they were.  God, in His infinite wisdom, knew where the underground springs were.  He showed Moses where to access the life-giving water, and the access point was not soft earth from which Moses could sink a well.  Instead, it was from the hardest substance around.  Interestingly, God did not command Moses to break the rock, but only to touch it with his staff.  It was Moses who struck the rock (twice!) in disobedience to God's express instructions.  God did not want the people to venerate Moses because he was not the source of the spring.  It was God, the source of life itself, who provided for the people.

Jesus, when speaking with a Samaritan woman who met Him at a well in the heat of the day (not a normal time for drawing water), said this: "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13-14).  Later, He spoke to the crowds in Jerusalem, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water'." (John 7:37-38)

There is also the metaphor of Jesus as the rock from which the water flowed.  Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:1b-4, "Our fathers were all under the cloud, and passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all at the same spiritual food, and all drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ."

Shelter

The people listening to Ezra at the direction of Nehemiah their governor were celebrating the Feast of Booths, what is today called Sukkot.  The genesis of this celebration was described in Deuteronomy 6:10-12. "And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you--with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant--and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery."  He goes on to instruct them to build temporary shelters, like tents or booths, to remind them of the temporary quarters they lived in during the 40 year trek through the wilderness.

Jesus also spoke of a Promised Land, a heavenly home that we have no hand in building.  John 14:1-3 says, "Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in Me.  In my Father's house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also."  Our spiritual survival depends on His sheltering us, eventually taking us home with Him in Heaven.

The Spirit gives us comfort

The third point of the Gospel found in Nehemiah 9 is found in verse 20: "You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold Your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst."  Even when they had sinned against God, He still sustained them.  The verses leading up to this point out that although the people demanded Aaron build them a golden calf, He did not withdraw His Spirit from them.  He still sent a cloud by day and a fire by night.

Did you realize that the cloud and the fire were pictures of the Trinity?  A cloud requires three elements: water vapor, colder air, and condensation nuclei (the particles in the air that water droplets adhere to--they can be soot or smoke, ocean spray, and dust or particles of soil aloft.)  A fire requires three elements as well: heat, fuel and oxygen.  The children of Israel were led through the wilderness day and night by representatives of the triune nature of God.  Think about that.

Jesus said, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." (John 14:26).  Why is that good news? Because Jesus is no longer with us bodily, and we continue to need a mediator, and advocate before the Father.

We need a savior

As the people were reminded, sin had separated them from God.  Disobedience caused them to be exiled for 70 years.  "Therefore You gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer.  And in the time of their suffering they cried out to You and You heard them from heaven, and according to Your great mercies You gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies." (Nehemiah 9:27).

We, too, are separated from a holy God by sin and disobedience.  Ne need a Savior.  The good news, the Gospel, is that God, in His infinite mercy, has provided one for us.  His name is Jesus Christ.

In Christian theology, we speak of saviors as "types" of Christ.  Moses was a "type" of Christ, as he led Israel out of bondage in Egypt.  Other "types" of Christ in the Old Testament include Noah, Jacob, David, and Samson, to name a few.  All of these Bible characters were "saviors" in a way, leading us to the Savior of the world, who is Christ Himself.

One more interesting (to me) tidbit of information from this passage: Ezra read the words of the law, and Nehemiah had gathered the people together.  The Levites were there, as well, encouraging and preaching to the people, bringing revival from the former outcasts and exiles.  One of the Levites listed in verse 5 was a man named Jeshua.  As you may know, the Jewish name for Jesus was Yeshua.  This is a mere coincidence, I'm sure.  Jeshua may have been a common name in Israel over the years.  It is just one more link in a chain of evidence that shows the good news, the gospel truth that is Jesus Christ made evident in the Old Testament.