Revival of the Word (II) (Nehemiah 8:6-9a)

Revival of the Word (II)

 

 

[Nehemiah 8:6-9a]

  

 

It is a morally lax world.  We hear a lot about moral hazard these days.  Originally, this meant that people were not careful when they bought insurance.  If we buy car insurance, we don't worry too much about traffic accidents.  And if we buy life insurance, we don't pay much attention to our health.  As if the sense function of the remote control has been exhausted, it means that the conscience has become dull.  It refers to the loss of judgment about right and wrong.  This kind of moral hazard phenomenon is not a thing yesterday or today, but you can see that there is no standard (Internet).  What is our standard?  It is the Bible.  The Bible is called the canon.  Its original meaning is sleep.  Borrowing the words from Amos 7:7-8, it is “a plumb line”.  A plumb line is a tool used on construction sites.  It serves to correct the verticality by hanging a weight on the thread.  This is the function and role of the word of God.  If we leave the word of God, you can only live your own way (Internet).  So, if we look at Judges 21:25, there is this word: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.”  I would like to think of three signs for the revival of the Word under the title “Revival of the Word (II)” centered on today's text Nehemiah 8:6-9a.

 

The first sign is praise and worship.

 

Look at Nehemiah 8:6 – “Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, ‘Amen! Amen!’  Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.”  In Pastor Seong-geon Hong’s book, ‘The Man God is Looking for,’ he says that there are two stages of worshiping God.  The first step in worship is “praise”.  This stage is the stage of approaching God, relying on what God has done for us through Jesus Christ and what He has done.  When we worship God, the starting point is to remember and give thanks for what God has already accomplished in Jesus Christ.  And it is to sing it and to proclaim it and praise God.  The second stage of worship is “worship.”  When we go before God, we sing and give thanks for what God has done in us, but when we come before God's throne, we see God's glory.  At that time, we will exalt God Himself rather than what God has accomplished.  Praise be to the majestic God of His grace, love, holiness, mercy and goodness.  It is no longer praising God for what God has done, but worshiping God for who He is (Hong).  If we look at today's text, Nehemiah 8:6, we see Ezra praising and the Israelites worshiping: “Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; ….”  Ezra knew (6:16) that the great God (1:5, 4:14) accomplished this great work (6:3, 4:19) by rebuilding the city of Jerusalem with His great power (1:10).  So, Ezra praised the great God in front of all the people of Israel who had gathered in the Water Gate Square to hear the law of Moses.  Look at Ezra 3:11 – “With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD: ‘He is good; his love to Israel endures forever.’  And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.”  At that time, the response of all the Israelites was to worship the Lord.  Look at Nehemiah 8:6b - “…  Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.”  This can't be but a wonderful revival of the true Word.  All the Israelites gathered in the Water Gate Square humbly worshipped God while responding with “Amen, Amen” to Ezra’s praise of the great God.  In other words, the Israelites said “Amen, Amen” because they acknowledged that the great God had rebuilt the city of Jerusalem, a great work.  Then, going further, the Israelites did not end by joining Ezra's praises because of the works God had accomplished, but worshiped the greatness of God in humility and reverence.

 

Like Ezra, we see God's good hand in fulfilling the word of Matthew 16:18, the word of promise given by the Lord to our church, so we must praise God for what He had done.  Also, like the Israelites, we humbly acknowledge God's faithfulness, graciousness, and goodness.  In other words, we must acknowledge who our God is, who goes on to fulfill His promise.  So, we must come before the throne of God's grace and worship Him.

 

The second sign is understanding.

 

Look at Nehemiah 8:7-8: “The Levites--Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah--instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there.  They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.”  When the scholar Ezra praised God, the Israelites responded with “Amen, Amen” and worshiped God.  Here we can find some principles about how to teach the Bible.

 

(1)   Reading the Bible.

 

The Levites read from the Book of the Law of God.”

 

(2)   We must clarify and interpret what we want to teach in the Bible.

 

The Levites made the Book of Law of God clear to the Israelites and gave the meaning the meaning.  More specifically, the Levites interpreted the Mosaic Law in a language the Israelites could understand.  The reason is because the Hebrew language at the time when Moses wrote the Pentateuch, from Genesis to Deuteronomy, changed over time during the times of Nehemiah and Ezra. So, the Levites interpreted the Law of Moses so that the Israelites could easily understand it.  The Levites interpreted the meaning of the Book of the Lar of God so that the Israelites could apply the law in their lives (Packer). 

 

(3)   The purpose of Bible study is to help learners understand the Word of God.

 

The Levites made the Israelites understand the law of God.

 

In John Milton Gregory's "The 7 Laws of Teaching," the first of which is "The Teacher's Law," he defines "teaching" as follows: ‘Teaching, in its simplest terms, is the imparting of experience.  …  It is painting a picture of myself in the other person's mind.’  In other words, the truth obtained by the understanding that the teacher knows and wants to convey to the other person is shaped in the mind and understanding of the learner.  Conveying here is not about imparting intellectual knowledge, but helping the learner to produce the experience of the teacher.  In saying this, Gregory had this to say about “teacher”: ‘Teachers must be thoroughly familiar with the lessons they are trying to teach.  It means teaching with a full heart and clear understanding.  And he must use clear, crisp language that he and his students can understand’ (Gregory).

 

            The third sign is tears.

 

            Look at Nehemiah 8:9b – “…  For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.”  All the Israelites wept while listening to the Law of Moses.  The reason is because they realized their sins through the Law.  Look at Romans 3:20b – “… rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.”  Pastor Packer said the reason why the Israelites cried was because the understanding of God's Word shocked the hearts of the Israelites.  People cry because they are overwhelmed with emotions.  And the tears of that emotion are due to the clear awareness of a particular reality.  The root of individual and community spiritual revival is always a clear awareness of God's holiness, goodness, and mercy and of His personal sins—wickedness, shame, insolence, and suicidal folly (Packer).

 

            When have we heard the word of God and shed tears?  When did we shed tears of repentance because the words pierced our hearts and exposed our sins?  Why are our tears of repentance dry?  I find the reason in the words of Amos 8:11 – “’The days are coming,’ declares the Sovereign LORD, ‘when I will send a famine through the land-- not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.’”  The famine of hearing the words of the Lord prevents us from realizing our sin. “Repentance” by Thomas Watson: ‘Repentance is necessary for hypocrites.  Hypocrisy is the guise of holiness, and the hypocrite or stage actor goes above the moralist and adorns himself with the garb of religion.  He professes the form of godliness, but denies its power (2 Tim. 3:5).  The hypocrite is like a house with a beautiful exterior, but all the rooms are dark.  He is a rotten pillar, beautifully gilded, and he hides his plague scars under a mask of confession.  The hypocrite opposes makeup on the face, but wears makeup that adorns holiness.  Because he is outwardly good, he can be truly evil.  The hypocrite seems to have his eyes nailed to heaven, but his heart is full of impure lust.  He lives in secret sin against his conscience.  He hears the word, but only his ears.  He is zealous for his devotion to the church, for which others look upon him and praise him, but he neglects home and closet prayer.  A hypocrite pretends to be humble, but this is to get ahead in the world.  He claims to have faith, but he uses it as a mask rather than a shield.  He carries a Bible under his armpit, but he does not carry it in his heart.  Search your heart with the candlestick of the Word and see if you can find nothing to repent of there’ (Internet).

 

We have entered an era of famine in which we have not heard the word of God (Amos 8:11).  In this age, as in the days of the prophet Habakkuk, the righteous are surrounded by the wicked, so the law is loose and justice is perverted, so justice is not being enforced at all (Hab 1:4).  When the law is loose like this, what should we believers do?  We must pray to God.  The prophet Habakkuk prayed to God: “LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy” (3:2).  The Hebrew word for revival used here is “chayah,” and it means to hope that God will pour out life.  Revival from the point of view of the Hebrews is always to repent of sins and 'return to God'.  Even in the New Testament, 'returning to God' is called revival.  Rather than the glory of God, revival is to abandon what one pursues and return to the Lord.  Revival is 'to become hot again' by setting fire to the weakened soul.  It is a period in which the believers' faith grows and unbelievers return to God intensively.  We must repent of our sins and turn quickly to a life of obedience to God.