I. The Effort made.
It was made under very discouraging circumstances. The city was in ruins, the walls were in heaps, and there were only a few restored captives to labour for their restoration. Now, in what spirit did these feeble Jews rise to their work?
(1) They all worked together.
There was just such an united and harmonious action as we long to witness in the Church of God. It is an old proverb that “union is strength.” In this case the whole wall was portioned out and all classes united. First came the High Priest and his brethren, next the men of Jericho, soon followed by the carpenters, the goldsmiths, and the apothecaries. Then came the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, followed by Shallum and his daughters; further on we read of Baruch, who set an example to the whole company, for he earnestly repaired the portion entrusted to his care, till at length the circuit was complete.
(2) They worked with a will.
There is such a thing as work without a will. There is the dull, lazy work of the idle man, and the mechanical work of those who take no interest in what they are about. Just as in religion, there is the languid performance of a routine as different as possible to the real wrestling with God in faith. There is no soul in it, and who can wonder if there is no result? In this case there was rapid result, and they built the wall, and the reason is given, “for the people had a mind to work.” [51] An important lesson this for every Christian effort.
(3) They made real sacrifices for their work. It must have been a sore inconvenience to these men to leave their own occupations and to labour on the wall; but they laboured night and day till the wall rose from its ruins. Oh, that we had more of this spirit in the Church of God! Would that we knew better how to give to Him so as to pinch ourselves; to give our time, our money, our painstaking, our real self-denying work, in order to glorify God, and show that we live not unto ourselves, but unto Him that died for us and rose again.
II. Their Faith.
This showed itself in three ways.
(1) In prayer.
Nehemiah was a man of prayer. When any trouble arose, his heart turned as if by an holy instinct to God, and so, when Tobiah mocked their efforts, Nehemiah gave no rough answer, but he turned his heart upwards and said, “Hear, O our God, for we are despised.” [52a] How much bitter strife would be avoided in the world if men acted like Nehemiah, and, instead of retorting, spread out their provocations before God.
But the conduct of the opponents soon turned from mockery to war, and there was a plan to attack the rising walls. But the attack was met just in the same way as the insult. In both cases he gave himself to prayer. I cannot imagine a better illustration of the praying believer than the words in verse 9, “Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night.” They heard of the conspiracy, and at once spread the intelligence before God; but, having done so, they did not consider that prayer superseded effort, but day and night they set their watch on the walls. Had they watched without praying, they would have been trusting to their own forethought; and had they prayed without watching, they would have tempted God to leave them. But they watched and they prayed, and they prayed and they watched, and so they acted in the spirit of the words in aftertimes spoken to us, “Watch and Pray.” [52b]
(2) Their faith showed itself also in the recognition of what God had done for them. Faith not only asks God’s help, but acknowledges it. It gives Him thanks for His action as well as asks Him to act; so when the danger was past we find Nehemiah ascribing it all to the good hand of God on his efforts. He did not say, “When we had defeated their plans,” but “When God had brought their counsel to nought.” [53]
(3) Faith looks forward to the future. When the workmen were all at their posts; when the builders laboured, every one having his sword girded by his side; when the trumpeter stood by the chief, ready at any moment to sound the alarm; when the voice of prayer had been heard day and night all along the line of the rising walls; when all had been done that man could do—then the heart rose high above all that man had done, and in calm, confident trust, Nehemiah assures the people, saying, “Our God shall fight for us.” He had made preparation, but he trusted to God for victory. He was at the head of a feeble people, but he was the servant of the Most High God. He knew that the battle was not to the strong, nor the race to the swift; so he rested his hope on the strong hand of his God, and in simple faith he trusted Him to give the victory.
THE JOY OF THE LORD
“By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also.”—Rom. v. 2, 3.
The joy of the Lord is a subject that goes to the heart of many. Some are rejoicing in the Lord, while others are longing to be partakers of it; it is a gift after which their heart is yearning.
Let us consider the real foundation of true, solid, well-founded joy. In these two verses there is a description of the joy and its power. There is the joy, for “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God,” and there is the power of that joy, for it rises above the troubles of life, and we rejoice “even in tribulation.” There is, therefore, such a bright hope of the coming glory, that we may go on our way with a thankful heart, rejoicing in the Lord; and there is such a manifestation of the love of Christ in the soul by the power of the Holy Ghost, that the distress of tribulation is overpowered, and even in the midst of sorrow there may be an abiding joyfulness in Christ Jesus the Lord.
Observe the foundation of this joy, and see how it is the consequence of our sure standing in Christ Jesus. When we rejoice in hope of the glory of God, and rejoice even in tribulation, this joy is the consequence of a previous transaction, and the result of our occupying a new position. We have had access, or admission, and are now standing in His grace. It is the standing in that grace that is the foundation of the joy of hope. This leads us to the question, “What is the grace?”
The word “grace” has different meanings in Scripture. Sometimes it means the inward work of God the Holy Ghost in the soul, as when it says, “Grow in grace.” [55a] But this cannot be our standing-ground, for the simple reason that it is imperfect and variable. But this is not the only meaning of the word, or nearly so, for it is used for any great gift of love and mercy bestowed in God’s free favour on His people. We have to consider what is the free gift or favour into which we have had access, and which is now our standing-ground. This question the context must decide; and it seems to me impossible to study that context, without coming to the conclusion that the grace here referred to is that which must ever be the real resting place for those who are convinced of sin, a righteousness imputed in the free grace of God. [55b]
This, then, is the grace in which we stand, the grace of imputation, the gracious gift of a righteousness reckoned, counted, or imputed to us when we do not deserve it; the marvellous mercy through which we are accounted righteous, accepted as righteous, beloved as righteous, and finally saved as righteous, although we are not really so in fact, and although we are conscious in our own hearts of matter for the most profound humiliation before God. Who can wonder that we rejoice in hope when we are placed in mercy on such a standing-ground as that?
This, you observe, is a work for us, and not in us, and therefore never varies. The work in us is perpetually changing. It is a progressive work, and its progress is sometimes much more rapid than at others. But the work for us does not go up and down with the work in us; it is unchangeable, like God Himself. The righteousness imputed is the righteousness of God, and therefore perfect and unchangeable. It changeth not for the simple reason that He changeth not, and therefore always, in cloud as well as sunshine, in dark days as well as bright, in the hour of tribulation as well as in the season of unmixed prosperity, in the times of deepest humiliation as well as in those of emotion and encouragement, the justified believer may rejoice in Him, and triumph in the God of his salvation. It is this that gives its security to hope, this that makes us sure of its never failing. If we were relying on all the varied changes of our own feelings, there might be joy one day and despair the next; but while we stand in the grace of imputed righteousness, our hope has a foundation that can never give way, and therefore we may accept the joy without a fear, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
What is the great principle within the soul which constitutes our standing in this grace?
To this question we shall find an answer in the words of St. Paul, “Thou standest by faith.” [56] And this is exactly what is taught us in this passage. In verse 1, we are taught that it is by faith that we are justified; and then, in verse 2, we learn that it is by faith that we have access into this grace wherein we stand. From first to last, therefore, it is a matter of faith. The whole secret of our standing, and of the joy that follows from it, is found in that one word “trust.” Trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your finished Sacrifice and your living Lord, and you stand on the rock. Let your trust rest on anything else, on your feelings, your thoughts, your experience, your intentions, or your religious efforts, and you will be no better than men endeavouring to walk steadily on the waves of the sea. But trust Christ as you are, where you are, and that without putting even your own trust between you and Him, and you may go on your way rejoicing in Him, and need never cease to give thanks for a foundation so solid and a grace so free.
THE WORK OF THE LORD
“Be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”—1 Cor. xv. 58.
We have lately studied “the joy of the Lord,” and now I am anxious that our thoughts should be turned to another subject, which is much more intimately connected with it than many seem to suppose, that is, the work of the Lord. The joy of the Lord imparts strength for service, and the service of the Lord increases joy. There is action and reaction between the two.