Nehemiah’s pre-cautionary rebuilding —a lifestyle: Building and Guarding Materials and Weapons (expanded 2021-05-02)

On January 6, 2010 after a Sunday experience with the Holy Spirit, the watchman decided to spend time in morning worship and Bible reading on his own. The Book of Nehemiah came to his mind and he read the verses aloud. The reading was different from his previous reading of the same Book. The whole Book brought to him a clear message about re-building a church.

He saw how Nehemiah processed the monumental task, all in 52 days, to rebuild the Jerusalem walls. Nehemiah started the project alone. With God. God was the Master Builder. Nehemiah merely listened and obeyed. He prayed every step of the way. He prayed and received his answers immediately. He did not take things for granted. In fact, Nehemiah had followed the Holy Spirit all the way.

Nehemiah was a watchman on the walls. He observed and investigated each situation carefully and prayed. God answered and gave him the best solutions. He obeyed: followed and carried out. His problems were thus solved at the right time using the right tools through the right people, for the purpose of God.

The watchman noted in Nehemiah the following spiritual truth applicable in the present re-building efforts:

1. Recognize that the war is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual principalities, rulers and wicked forces in the heavenly realm. (Ephesians 6)

2. Acknowledge the key role of the Holy Spirit (the power behind all re-building efforts) and the words of God (the Sword of the Spirit).

3. Admit the importance of regular crucial strategic prayers as led by the Holy Spirit.

4. Organize and apply the rightful functions of the gates and the walls. The gates are to open and welcome the entrance of the King of kings, Lord of lords. The walls are for the defense of God’s people against the enemies.

The strategy of Nehemiah is to: watch, pray, defend and build until the whole city is secured and well guarded against present and future invasions and pollutions.

Nehemiah deployed half his men to build and half to be equipped with weapons and posted behind the workers/builders. Even the builders wore swords. The materials carriers worked with one hand and held a weapon in the other. Such caution and defense!

In conclusion in a similar task all rebuilding of the churches and God’s cities are to be like what Nehemiah was assigned to do, and it is pertinent that the new group of leaders and builders need to pray more and read the Bible more, much much more than during the time of inertia, while carrying out the rebuilding, restoring and reining. One hand with the building materials, another hand holding a weapon.

The rebuilding and guarding never stop, even though Nehemiah had finished his task in 52 days. The rebuilding and guarding is a lifestyle, a way of normal Christian living, and it should never stop. Jesus and the apostles have amply cautioned us about the time of perils.

James 4:7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

1 Peter 5:8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction.[b] 4 He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.

Luke 17:26-30 New Living Translation (NLT)

26 “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. 27 In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all.

28 “And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business—eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building— 29 until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

Luke 21:34-36 New Living Translation (NLT)

34 “Watch out! Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware, 35 like a trap. For that day will come upon everyone living on the earth. 36 Keep alert at all times. And pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man.”

Originally drafted on January 6, 2010; revised and expanded on 2021-05-02, Kainotes.

so they would not spread beyond their boundaries.

I was there when he set the limits of the seas, so they would not spread beyond their boundaries.
God blessed two groups of living creatures at creation: the fishes and the birds, the human beings, male and female in God’s own image. Then He blessed them. God created other things as well: day, night, heaven, earth, seas, grass, fruit trees, sun, moon, stars, animals and other living creatures on earth. But the Bible recorded in Genesis God blessed two groups as quoted below.

Genesis 1:22,28 New King James Version (NKJV)
Fishes and birds: 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
Human beings made in the image of God: 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Why? What do they have in common that other creatures do not have?
Looking at the fact that each has its own domain of operation, we can note the distinct demarcation: fishes in the seas (water), birds in the sky, humans on land. God has granted humans dominion over the whole earth at creation.

There is a word repeatedly used by God in the creation process. “Divide/Separate”. In Genesis 1:3-18 (Quoted in parts) God again makes distinction between two opposite realms: light and darkness, day and night, heaven and earth, dry land and seas.

1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. ..

6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. ..

9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; …17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

Why does God make such clear demarcation between light and darkness, heaven and earth, land and seas? Verse 14 gives us an indication, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;” I believe the distinction is landmark, to guide the whole human race as an entity in survival on this the earth, and each person as to the span of his/her life on earth.

Landmark is a physical guide for a traveler. The Apostle Peter described Christians as sojourners/travelers.

1 Peter 2:11-12 (NLT)
Living Before the World
New Living Translation
Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners”(Sojourners) to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.

God wants His people to be different and make a difference in the fallen world. He has set landmarks which guide us. This is what He said, “Do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set.” (Proverbs 22:28)

A WARNING ABOUT REMOVING BOUNDARIES/LANDMARKS
Deuteronomy 19:14 [ Property Boundaries ] “You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.
Hosea 5:10 “The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark; I will pour out My wrath on them like water.

EVEN THE SEAS HAVE BOUNDARIES WHICH THEY ARE FORBIDDEN TO CROSS OVER
Proverbs 8:29 I was there when he set the limits of the seas,
so they would not spread beyond their boundaries.
And when he marked off the earth’s foundations,

Psalm 104
6 …The waters stood above the mountains.
7 At Your rebuke they fled;
At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.
8 They went up over the mountains;
They went down into the valleys,
To the place which You founded for them.
9 You have set a boundary that they may not pass over,
That they may not return to cover the earth.

Jeremiah 5:22 New King James Version (NKJV)

22 Do you not fear Me?’ says the Lord.
‘Will you not tremble at My presence,
Who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea,
By a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it?
And though its waves toss to and fro,
Yet they cannot prevail;

Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.

Are there boundaries in the spiritual realms? The answer is yes. In the Book of Daniel, the angel Gabriel told Daniel that he was delayed by the prince of Persia and prince of Greece and angle Michael had to come to his aid so e could come to Daniel in answer of Daniel’s prayer. Apostle Paul also mentioned the existence of such territorial and hierarchical spiritual rulers of darkness and hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12) Revelation 12 described a war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the devil and his angels. “but they did not prevail, nor was there a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out…”(12:7-9)

In summary: God sets boundaries to separate. Do not cross them. Do not allow breaking down of such boundaries. That was why Nehemiah and his team returned to Jerusalem in 444BC to rebuild the walls. There is spiritual significance in walls. They are landmarks for demarcation and distinction.