Restoring Walls

So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal with me, except the one on which I rode. And I went out by night through the Valley Gate to the Serpent Well and the Refuse Gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to pass. So I went up in the night by the valley, and viewed the wall; then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the others who did the work. Then I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.” And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. So they said, “Let us rise up and build.” Then they set their hands to this good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?” So I answered them, and said to them, “The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem.”

The Need for Restoration

Background: The walls of Jerusalem had been breached and destroyed by Babylon in 586 B.C.

Zerubbabel, Joshua, and 50,000 Jewish exiles returned in 538 B.C. and restored the altar of the LORD and re-established sacrifices and festivals.

Ezra and 1,800 Jewish exiles returned eighty years later in 458 B.C.

Nehemiah and an unknown number of Jewish exiles returned 14 years later in 444 B.C. to restore the walls.

The restoration of the walls brought great opposition from their enemies in the land. The devil will resist the establishment of kingdom walls in our hearts, homes, and in the house of God.

The church in America has allowed the walls established by God’s Word to be destroyed. Now, it is being overrun by the alien entities of false doctrine, compromise, worldliness, humanism, syncretism (mixing Christianity with pagan forms of worship), social justice, environmentalism, etc.

“I looked for the church and found it in the world. I looked for the world and found it in the church.” – Horatius Bonar (1808-1889)

The Purpose of Walls

Identification (Identifies us as God’s people)

Separation (Sets boundaries between what is holy and keeps out what is unholy)

Protection (Defense against enemy advances)

Jurisdiction (Reign of the king and His kingdom)

The Need for Watchmen and Intercessors

Ezekiel 22:23–31 NKJV

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, say to her: ‘You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’ The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured people; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain. Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord had not spoken. The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger. So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God.

Isaiah 62:6–7 NKJV

I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, And give Him no rest till He establishes And till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

Watchmen are those who stand on the wall to alert the city to danger.

Intercessors are those who see an area of the wall that has fallen or has been breached and goes to work to restore (build the wall) and to defend (stand in the gap).

Nehemiah’s Strategy to Restore the Walls

He prayed to God

Nehemiah 4:4 NKJV

Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to a land of captivity!

He assigned each family to restore the section of the wall where they lived (Nehemiah 3)

He established a twenty-four-hour watch against the threat of attack

Nehemiah 4:7–9 NKJV

Now it happened, when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion. Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night.

He positioned half of the people to defend the most vulnerable sections of the walls

Nehemiah 4:13 NKJV

Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows.

He encouraged the people to fight and build.

Nehemiah 4:14 NKJV

And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”

Nehemiah 4:17 NKJV

Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon.

He instructed them to rally to fight when the trumpet blew.

Nehemiah 4:20 NKJV

Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

The Walls Restored

Nehemiah and the people finished the walls.

The wall’s completion disheartened the enemy in their own eyes.

Nehemiah 6:15–16 NKJV

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.

They realized it was not the work of man but of God. If God is for us, then who can be against us?

Response to the Word

We must restore the walls.

We must work together.

We must each do our part.

We must be ready to build and to fight (sword and trowel).

We must be diligent until the work is complete.

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