ORLANDO CHINESE CHURCH

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

February, 2006



Let’s Rise Up and Build (3)



Nehemiah 2:18-19, “I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, ‘Let us rise up and build.’ So they began this good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobijah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. ‘What is this you are doing?’ they asked. ‘Are you rebelling against the king?’ ”


A. The Enemy’s Devices


When Nehemiah was called to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, he was blessed with fervent co-workers. However, the enemy used all possible methods to deter their effort. He faced threats from the following:

  1. Sanballat the Horonite, a Samaritan leader. Horonaim was a Samaritan city inhabited by gentiles brought in by the king of Assyria. Though learned to worship Jehovah, they also worshiped idols of their own (2 Kings 17:24-29, 32-34). They were used by the enemy to confuse God’s people. Though appeared to worship the God of Israel, in reality they hated the Israelites. “Sanballat” means “bitter hatred”. He represents a superstitious person who believes in everything except the only true God.

  2. Tobijah, the Ammonite. Both Ammonites and Moabites were descendents of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. Although Lot came to Canaan with Abraham, he did not have the promise and blessings that God gave to Abraham. Later Lot slept with his two daughters and gave birth to Moab (the father of the Moabites) and Ben-Ammi (the father of the Ammonites). They lived in Canaan without any promise of inheritance or birthright. “Tobijah” means “outstanding in the Lord”. However, other than his name, he had no relationship with God. He represents corrupted ostensible Christians. Ammonites may not enter the assembly of the Lord (Deut. 23:2-6), because instead of helping the Israelites they invited Balaam to curse them. Seemingly they had a relationship with God, but they were Israelites’ enemies, separated from the Lord.

  3. Geshem, the Arabian, probably an Edomite. Edomites were descendents of Esau (Isaac’s elder son) who desired worldly pleasure (pottage of lentils). Or, he might have been a descendent of Ishmael, who had no birthright, because he was originated from the flesh. “Geshem” means “stranger”, a stranger to God and to spiritual things. Gal. 4:29 says, “But as in those days he who had birth after the flesh was cruel to him who had birth after the Spirit…” “For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; because these are opposite the one to the other…” (Gal. 5:17). Hence, desire of the flesh is against God. When God’s people move forward with the Spirit’s guidance, the enemy will use the flesh to stop and attack such efforts. There are two major battles in the Bible: the spiritual battle in Ephesians and the heavenly battle in Revelation. In both cases, Satan uses the flesh to fight against God. When a worker falls carelessly for the flesh, he might become Satan’s tools against God.


In summary, Nehemiah's enemies were the Samaritans who worshiped idols, the Ammonites who were related to God only by name, and the Arab who were of the flesh.


B. The Enemy’s Scheme 2 Cor. 2:11, “ for we are not ignorant of his schemes"


The enemy’s response to rebuilding the city walls were “troubled” or to “laugh at” them (Neh. 2:10, 19). When the enemy saw the successful progress of the work, they became even more troubled and angry (Neh. 4:1, 7). They used all imaginations to threaten and to cause trouble (Neh. 4:7-8), in order to stop God’s work. He may let go if we are idle and lazy. However, he roars like a lion to devour us when we labor in one accord. His attack came from both flanks:


I. External Attacks ---- Attack through ridiculing God's work.

  1. Belittling God’s work (Neh. 2:19,4:1-3) by laughing at the workers as if they were

    1. working the work of man instead of that of God ---- to distort the meaning of God’s work.

    2. protecting and offering sacrifices for themselves---- to deny the testimony and value of the wall which separates God’s people from the gentiles.

    3. to rebuild the wall within one day, as proud as those who built the tower of Babel.

    4. using again the stones which were burned ---- to remind them of the past failure and to imply that their work won’t last.

    5. building a stone wall so weak that could be broken down by a fox ---- to cause God’s people to doubt the eternal value of their work.


The enemy attacked Nehemiah in the same way that Harold, the old fox, who attempted to kill Jesus(Luke 13:32) and scatter the flock by striking the shepherd (Matt. 26:31). Thank God that Nehemiah knew the temporary suffering was light and small compared to the future eternal glory. He did not allow the little foxes to damage the vines (Song 2:15).


  1. Distracting workers’ attention (Neh. 6:1-3)

When the enemies saw the progress in building the city walls, they for four times attempted to kill Nehemiah by asking him to meet in the country. Nehemiah replied to them, “I am doing a great work, so that it is not possible for me to come down…” He gave the first priority and his full attention to God’s work. He knew that it was a great work that could not be stopped. The enemy often interrupts our work with distractions so that we would forget the will of the Lord.


  1. Spreading false rumors to attack leaders

Sanballat sent his servant to Nehemiah a fifth time with an open letter: In it is said that Nehemiah tried to make himself free from the king’s authority; and that he would be the king of the Jews. At that time, Judah was under the rule of Persia. Such rumor was a serious accusation. The truth was that the Persian King had already approved of the building of the city wall. Nehemiah knew that the enemies tried to put fear into their heart so that the work would be stopped. Therefore, he rebuked the rumor and replied, “No such things as you say are being done, and you are making them up yourself.” He also asked God to make his hands strong.


Before Jesus was crucified, Pilate had a desire to set Him free since He had not done anything wrong, but the Jews accused Jesus of making himself a king. Crying out “we have no king but Caesar”, they sold Him to the Romans and crucified Jesus (John 19:12-16). These are all warnings about the greatest danger in church: rumors. May the Lord have mercy on us, and do not allow false rumors to spread lest someone be hurt and falls into Satan’s traps.


II. Internal Attacks ---- Compromising truth for self-interest

  1. Spies were bought by the enemy (Neh. 6: 10-14): Failing to break in from outside, Sanballat bought a spy.

v.10 Shemaiah told Nehemiah a frightening lie in order to trap him.

v.12 Nehemiah saw through his evil will.

v.13 He realized that the enemy wanted him to be overcome by fear, so they would have reason to say evil about him and put shame on him.

v.14 Even Noadiah, the woman prophet and the other prophets were also bought. Nehemiah prayed to God for help.


External attacks are much easier to detect and defend than hidden arrows from within the church. There are Satan's reporters who delight in spreading gossips such that the devil’s work is brought into the church.


  1. People were discouraged by fatigue, loneliness, and fear (4:10-12).

v.10 The strength of the workmen was giving way, so “it is impossible for us to put up the wall.” People broke down because they felt isolated and tired.

v.12 The Jews who were living near the enemy asked the workmen ten times to come to help them as the enemies were coming against them from all directions.

v.14 Nehemiah checked the situation and told them not to fear, saying “keep in mind the Lord who is great and awesome”.

v.15 Knowing that God had frustrated the enemies’ plan, the workmen learned to depend on God and all went back to the wall, everyone to his work.


We should be careful not to tire ourselves out in serving the Lord to the point of self-pity, thinking that I am the only one working. Loneliness, together with rumor, leads to fear. Those who were living near the enemy came ten times asking others to help them. This is the work of the enemy to distract workmen from working for the Lord. Therefore, we should work with brothers in one accord hand in hand.


  1. Chiefs and rulers who sold brothers for self-interest (Neh. 5:1-10)

v.7 The chiefs and the rulers took interest from his countryman. They didn’t fear God, and served only their own interests. Their stomach became their gods. On the other hand, people lacked food (v.2), lost their fields, vine-gardens, and houses for debt (v.3), overburdened by taxes (v.4), and even sold their sons and daughters to be servants (v.5).

v.12 Nehemiah asked the priests to take an oath to stop taking interest from the people (v.10), to give back to them their fields, their vine-gardens, their olive-gardens, and their houses (v.11), to give praise to the Lord (v.13), and to fear God by setting an example of caring for the people (v.14-18).

  1. Alliances between relatives that broke unity (6:16-19)

Some people formed alliances with the enemy. They passed messages back and forth to put fear into people’s heart and to break unity. There are different types of relationships among people within a church. If careless, unity will be broken and the workers' heart be broken, hands tight, lips sealed and troubled by headaches. Let’s remember that we are all God’s children with one work to do: to build up the city wall.


C. Nehemiah’s Response ---- pray to God and trust Him without giving in.

  1. Constantly praying.

4:4-6 asking the Lord to give ear so the workmen would go on building the wall.

4:9 asking God to have men on watch against the enemies day and night.

4:14, 15, 20 asking the Lord who is great and awesome to fight against the enemies such that their plan be ruined.

5:13, 15, 19 giving praise to the Lord and asking Him to remember what people have done and to give blessings.

6:9, 14, 15 asking God to make the hands strong.

  1. Trusting the Lord without fear (Neh. 6:11-15, 1 John 4:18)

Nehemiah knew that he faced a spiritual battle. He must take up God’s full armor and rely on God’s power to stand before the enemy (Eph. 6:10-13). Thank God that Nehemiah knew the enemy’s schemes but had no fears, so that the wall was finished in fifty-two days. God further moved his heart to gather the chiefs, the rulers, and people so that they conducted the census (Ch. 7), to proclaim the law (Ch. 8), to repent their sins, to commit to obeying God’s words, and to worship God by offering sacrifices (Ch.s 9 & 10), and to assign duties (Ch. 11). “And on that day they made great offerings and were glad; for God had made them glad with great joy… the joy of Jerusalem came to the ears of those who were far off” (Neh.12:43).

Today, Satan is still attacking the church. He is most afraid of the unity among God’s children, so he tries to hinder the city wall from being built. When he is not successful, he tries to defeat the church leaders. He will also try to sneak into people’s hearts to cause division, fear and hurt. We should be carefully on alert since the enemy is tricky. We should stand firm so that the enemy’s schemes would be in vain. May the Holy Spirit protect the church and unite God’s people in joy to testify the fullness of His glory.