A Repentant Nation.
Nehemiah 9
1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads.
2 Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
3 And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.
4 Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God.
5 And the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said: "Stand up and bless the Lord your God Forever and ever! "Blessed be Your glorious name, Which is exalted above all blessing and praise!
6 You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, The heaven of heavens, with all their host, The earth and everything on it, The seas and all that is in them, And You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You.
7 "You are the Lord God, Who chose Abram, And brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, And gave him the name Abraham;
8 You found his heart faithful before You, And made a covenant with him To give the land of the Canaanites, The Hittites, the Amorites, The Perizzites, the Jebusites, And the Girgashites-- To give it to his descendants. You have performed Your words, For You are righteous.
9 "You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, And heard their cry by the Red Sea.
10 You showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, Against all his servants, And against all the people of his land. For You knew that they acted proudly against them. So You made a name for Yourself, as it is this day.
11 And You divided the sea before them, So that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; And their persecutors You threw into the deep, As a stone into the mighty waters.
12 Moreover You led them by day with a cloudy pillar, And by night with a pillar of fire, To give them light on the road Which they should travel.
13 "You came down also on Mount Sinai, And spoke with them from heaven, And gave them just ordinances and true laws, Good statutes and commandments.
14 You made known to them Your holy Sabbath, And commanded them precepts, statutes and laws, By the hand of Moses Your servant.
15 You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, And brought them water out of the rock for their thirst, And told them to go in to possess the land Which You had sworn to give them.
16 "But they and our fathers acted proudly, Hardened their necks, And did not heed Your commandments.
17 They refused to obey, And they were not mindful of Your wonders That You did among them. But they hardened their necks, And in their rebellion They appointed a leader To return to their bondage. But You are God, Ready to pardon, Gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, Abundant in kindness, And did not forsake them.
18 "Even when they made a molded calf for themselves, And said, 'This is your god That brought you up out of Egypt,' And worked great provocations,
19 Yet in Your manifold mercies You did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day, To lead them on the road; Nor the pillar of fire by night, To show them light, And the way they should go.
20 You also gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, And did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, And gave them water for their thirst.
21 Forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, They lacked nothing; Their clothes did not wear out And their feet did not swell.
22 "Moreover You gave them kingdoms and nations, And divided them into districts. So they took possession of the land of Sihon, The land of the king of Heshbon, And the land of Og king of Bashan.
23 You also multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, And brought them into the land Which You had told their fathers To go in and possess.
24 So the people went in And possessed the land; You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, The Canaanites, And gave them into their hands, With their kings And the people of the land, That they might do with them as they wished.
25 And they took strong cities and a rich land, And possessed houses full of all goods, Cisterns already dug, vineyards, olive groves, And fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and grew fat, And delighted themselves in Your great goodness.
26 "Nevertheless they were disobedient And rebelled against You, Cast Your law behind their backs And killed Your prophets, who testified against them To turn them to Yourself; And they worked great provocations.
27 Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their enemies, Who oppressed them; And in the time of their trouble, When they cried to You, You heard from heaven; And according to Your abundant mercies You gave them deliverers who saved them From the hand of their enemies.
28 "But after they had rest, They again did evil before You. Therefore You left them in the hand of their enemies, So that they had dominion over them; Yet when they returned and cried out to You, You heard from heaven; And many times You delivered them according to Your mercies,
29 And testified against them, That You might bring them back to Your law. Yet they acted proudly, And did not heed Your commandments, But sinned against Your judgments, 'Which if a man does, he shall live by them.' And they shrugged their shoulders, Stiffened their necks, And would not hear.
30 Yet for many years You had patience with them, And testified against them by Your Spirit in Your prophets. Yet they would not listen; Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
31 Nevertheless in Your great mercy You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them; For You are God, gracious and merciful.
32 "Now therefore, our God, The great, the mighty, and awesome God, Who keeps covenant and mercy: Do not let all the trouble seem small before You That has come upon us, Our kings and our princes, Our priests and our prophets, Our fathers and on all Your people, From the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.
33 However You are just in all that has befallen us; For You have dealt faithfully, But we have done wickedly.
34 Neither our kings nor our princes, Our priests nor our fathers, Have kept Your law, Nor heeded Your commandments and Your testimonies, With which You testified against them.
35 For they have not served You in their kingdom, Or in the many good things that You gave them, Or in the large and rich land which You set before them; Nor did they turn from their wicked works.
36 "Here we are, servants today! And the land that You gave to our fathers, To eat its fruit and its bounty, Here we are, servants in it!
37 And it yields much increase to the kings You have set over us, Because of our sins; Also they have dominion over our bodies and our cattle At their pleasure; And we are in great distress.
38 "And because of all this, We make a sure covenant, and write it; Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests seal it."
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After hearing the word of the Law, the Israelites recognised their sin and repented. They confessed their own sins and the sins of their ancestors.
Confession and repentance is not a one off thing, for the closer one gets to
God, one sees the depth of their sin.
The nearer to the light we get, the better we can see our faults.
“Repentance grows as faith grows. Do not make any mistake about it; repentance is not a thing of days and weeks, a temporary penance to be got over as fast as possible! No it is the grace of a lifetime, like faith itself. Repentance is the inseparable companion of faith.” (Spurgeon)
1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads.
In this culture, when one recognised their sin and to show repentance, the common thing to do was to put on sack cloth and fasted. It was a sign of humbling oneself before God.
Linked with the idea of sack cloth was penitence, repentance, remorse, atonement, absolution, sorrow, rue, attrition
Whether or not each person was genuine in their repentance, only they and God knows.
However, we do know that God will only respond to true repentance.
If it is done just to appear to be repentant, then it is not true repentance and therefore is not worthy of forgiveness.
We also need to remember that included in repentance is the making of restitution. This also shows the genuineness of our repentance.
The sack cloth reflects a humble attitude of heart – humble not only towards God, but also humble towards man. They did this publicly, and others would see them in this public state. The fasting was to say, I am more interested in the removal of my sin than eating.
Confession and repentance is a vertical and horizontal action.
The sin is against God first and then our brother.
Both need to be put right.
V1 and with dust on their heads. This was also a sign of humbling before God, as if to admit that their sin was more important to them than the pleasures of life.
2 Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
There are consequences of sin. There are times when there must be restitution made. When the things that have been done that was wrong, must be put right.
If we have wronged someone, we need to admit it and say sorry to that person. We cannot confess and repent and continue in our sin.
Sometimes it is not possible to make restitution but where it is, we should be willing to put it right.
3 And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.
The Word of God made them recognise their sin, confession and repentance and the duty of worship.
When we read the Word of God, our sin is highlighted.
Romans 7:7 Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.”
God reveals our sin through the scriptures by the Holy Spirit.
John 16:8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement:
Very often, our sins are highlighted by the preaching of the Gospel, or a sermon from a visiting preacher.
From a passage of scripture, being read out by someone.
We see in vv 4 & 5 of our text that the leaders of the congregation stood on the stairs and led the people in praise.
Reminding them just who God is.
“Stand up and bless the LORD your God
Forever and ever!
Blessed be Your glorious name,
Which is exalted above all blessing and praise!
You alone are the LORD;
You have made heaven,
The heaven of heavens, with all their host,
The earth and everything on it,
The seas and all that is in them,
And You preserve them all.
The host of heaven worships You.
VV 6 to 37 They reminded the people of all things that God had done.
Beginning at creation, then God choosing Abraham, making the covenant, leading them out of bondage in Egypt.
They reminded them of Gods presence in the wilderness, the giving of the law, through Moses.
Nehemiah 9: 7,8
“You are the LORD God, Who chose Abram, And brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, And gave him the name Abraham;
You found his heart faithful before You, And made a covenant with him
To give the land of the Canaanites, The Hittites, the Amorites, The Perizzites, the Jebusites, And the Girgashites—
To give it to his descendants.
You have performed Your words, For You are righteous.
They were reminded of God’s presence and the wonders He performed in the wilderness.
Nehemiah 9: 9—15
“You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, And heard their cry by the Red Sea.
You showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, Against all his servants,
And against all the people of his land.
For You knew that they acted proudly against them.
So You made a name for Yourself, as it is this day. And You divided the sea before them, So that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land;
And their persecutors You threw into the deep, As a stone into the mighty waters.
Moreover You led them by day with a cloudy pillar, And by night with a pillar of fire, To give them light on the road Which they should travel.
“You came down also on Mount Sinai, And spoke with them from heaven,
And gave them just ordinances and true laws, Good statutes and commandments.
You made known to them Your holy Sabbath, And commanded them precepts, statutes and laws, By the hand of Moses Your servant.
You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, And brought them water out of the rock for their thirst, And told them to go in to possess the land
Which You had sworn to give them.
Nehemiah 9:16, 17 But they sinned, they hardened their hearts to the things of God, in spite of God’s mercy. Even when they turned to false gods, God gave His Holy Spirit to instruct them. He multiplied the nation as He had promised.
Never the less, again they rebelled.
God punished them time and time again, showing His mercy and patience. Showing the people, the contrast between them and God.
This is the way God is with us. He knows our weakness and as long as we come to Him in true repentance, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
V17 But You are God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in kindness, and did not forsake them: God’s gracious answer to the rebellion of Israel was glorious. Ready to pardon is especially wonderful, indicating that there is nothing keeping God from pardoning us except our refusal to come to Him through Jesus. He is ready to pardon, if we are ready to receive it. We show our readiness by confession and repentance.
V18 Even when they made a molded calf for themselves: This was God’s gracious response to Israel – even after they made the golden calf and worshipped it, He still did not forsake them. He still provided the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, He still guided them by His spirit, He still fed them and gave them water. Together it all shows not how special Israel was, but even more, how special God is.
Nehemiah 9: 19—35 Yet in Your manifold mercies You did not forsake them in the wilderness.
On and on they were reminded of the mercy, the graciousness, the patience and the willingness of God, to forgive their waywardness.
God has never changed, as the scriptures tell us, Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Malachi 3:6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
This is the same God, the one that dealt with them, is the same Heavenly Father that deals with us.
36 "Here we are, servants today! And the land that You gave to our fathers, To eat its fruit and its bounty, Here we are, servants in it!
37 And it yields much increase to the kings You have set over us, Because of our sins; Also they have dominion over our bodies and our cattle At their pleasure; And we are in great distress.
Here they were, brought to a position of decision. What will you do about it?
In the light of all that has been presented to you, what will you do?
38 "And because of all this, We make a sure covenant, and write it; Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests seal it."
When we read the Word of God, when we hear God’s voice through one of His messengers, when we are challenged with our sin, our walk with Him.
What is our response?
When we contemplate our relationship with Him and our brethren, when we examine our actions and motives. Are they true, am I pretending, am I honest.
Or is there hypocrisy in my life?
Am I trustworthy, honest, reliable, or am I proud, arrogant and make excuses?
If so, what am I doing about it?
What about my relationship with God?
Do I spend time in His Word? Am I open to God speaking to me through it?
What about my prayer life?
What about my witness? When was the last time I shared the Gospel message with a relative, a friend, a stranger? When did I last pray for my family, my friends?
Do I thank God for who He is and what He has done?
The Bible tells us that His Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
The closer we get to the light, then that light shows us where and what we are.
It is what we do with that revelation. When God shines that light on an area of our life, we should act in a positive way and deal with it.
