So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God. (Nehemiah 6:15-16)

When The World Sees The Work Of God

Jerusalem was the city of David, where the Temple of Solomon adorned the landscape with its majesty and beauty, proclaiming the message of the one true God. The city of God was the perfection of beauty and the joy of the whole earth where the throne of the Lord stood. It represented the covenant of Jehovah God with the people of Israel through whom the Son of God would come to save all the earth. But in 586 B.C., the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and burned the Temple to the ground. The people of Israel had turned away from the one true God to serve the gods of the nations around them. When the Assyrians and Babylonians came against the nation of Israel, they could not see a God greater than their own. Nations fought other nations as gods fighting against gods. The heathen world had witnessed the power of the Jewish God with a rich history of conquest and might, but that had been lost when the Lord God allowed King Nebuchadnezzar and his army to enter the Most Holy of Holies and destroy the House of God’s Glory.

Seventy years after the destruction of Solomon’s temple, the second Temple was completed under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. The walls of Jerusalem lay in ruin, and the gates burned. No one began work on the walls until a cupbearer from Persia came to Jerusalem on a mission from the Lord. Nehemiah was distressed when he heard of the conditions in the city of God. The Second Temple had stood for another seventy years after the people returned, but the walls remained in ruin. Under Nehemiah’s leadership and courage, Jerusalem’s walls were rebuilt in fifty-two days. One hundred and forty-two years after the Babylonians destroyed the city, Jerusalem stood with a Temple in her midst and the walls standing.

Nehemiah faced a lot of persecution as he led the people in rebuilding the walls. It was a great accomplishment to organize the people into a workforce able to restore the city’s walls and hang the gates in less than two months. The impact was immediate. When the enemies of Israel and the surrounding nations heard about the walls being rebuilt, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of the God of Israel. The work of rebuilding the walls, unified as one people together facing persecution, brought fear in the hearts of the nations around Israel because they saw what the people of God could accomplish with a firm belief in whom they serve.

Nehemiah was a man of vision who saw the needs and worked to accomplish the work of the Lord. The world reacted with shock because of his actions, faith, and courage to do the impossible. There is a lesson to learn from Nehemiah about church growth and the lack thereof. The kingdom of God is the church of Jesus Christ. Like Nehemiah, the church leaders must have the vision to see what no one else can see. There is much work to be done in the work of the church, and it will never be accomplished by talking about it. It requires action. Many churches are failing because there is no vision, and no one is willing to build the walls of the kingdom. Churches that are apathetic in evangelism show the world the gospel is not the power of God unto salvation.

When the church of Christ picks up the banner of truth and works diligently to teach, admonish, encourage, exhort, and share the gospel of good news; the world takes notice. Pharaoh was worried about the Hebrews, who were growing in number and might. There is a lesson when one views the church that is not growing in number and spirit. The world is unconcerned. Put a church of God in the midst of a community and let it grow in the work of the kingdom, and the world will take notice. What the world needs to see in the local church is the work of God as a vibrant and active work. Look around. Is the world concerned about what you are doing? Let them become very disheartened in their own eyes when they perceive that the work being done by the church is from the one true God.