Neh 1:3 | KingComments | STEP | In sober terms, his visitors tell him that the remnant is in great distress and that Jerusalem no longer has a wall and gates. The fact that the city walls are badly damaged means that the inhabitants are without the necessary protection against enemies. The walls represent the separation from evil. There is no more separation between holy and unholy. The gates speak of letting in the good and removing the wrong. The gates speak of exercising Divine care or discipline. God wants the walls of Jerusalem to be called salvation and its gates praise ( ). Separation from evil means salvation, salvation for God’s people and assures their continuance as God’s people. To be a people that sings His praises requires care and discipline. Unjudged sin prevents praise. We might have expected that after the return of a remnant, this remnant would have experienced God’s special blessing by giving them the evidence of His approval. On the contrary, they are “in great distress and reproach”. We can apply this to the situation that had arisen at the beginning of the nineteenth century, after believers from all kinds of denominations discovered the state of the church according to God’s thoughts. They separated themselves from man-made systems according to the Old Testament model, where the Lord Jesus was not given the place He deserves or where evil teachings about Him were proclaimed without exercising God’s discipline ( ; ). Thereupon they came together in the Name of the Lord Jesus ( ). This movement can be compared to what was taking place under Ezra. In Ezra we read about the restoration of the altar – applied: renewed view of the Lord’s Table – and the rebuilding of the temple – applied: renewed view of what the church of the living God is. But the fire and characteristic dedication of this movement has been extinguished. Love for the Lord and His Word and care for one another has faded away. The receiving at the Table of the Lord of all God’s children who do not live in sin nor are associated with sin has disappeared. Those who grew up in the tradition of that movement have largely fallen prey to liberalism on the one hand and sectarianism on the other. The walls have been badly damaged, the gates burned. The movement resulting from a work of the Spirit has come to a standstill. What is left floats either on traditionalism or on emotion under the influence of charismatic teachings or on worldly thought patterns – products of postmodern thought – or on a mixture of these practices. The Word of God remains closed in many cases. It does not need to be opened if we find our certainty in tradition, feeling or reason. If the Word is opened, it is used to underline one’s own right or to make it clear that nothing can be said with certainty. However, we may ask ourselves how it is in our personal lives, with the wall of separation from the world, with the wall of prayer and reading the Bible, with the wall of faithful imitation of the Lord Jesus, with the wall of personal surrender and living testimony, the wall of being a Christian every day. Are these walls in ruins? Some lessons 1. When we ask about the situation of God’s people, we will discover that there is great unfaithfulness. 2. The walls, picture of separation, have been demolished. The separation between the church and the world has disappeared. At first hesitantly, the world has now been let in with great enthusiasm. She is taken in to tell how things should be done in the church, both in her meetings and in her preaching of the gospel. 3. The gates, picture of justice, have been burned. The evil that has entered is not judged. In the church everyone does what he or she thinks is right. A possible voice of protest is silenced.

‏ Nehemiah 1:3

Report on the Situation in Jerusalem

In sober terms, his visitors tell him that the remnant is in great distress and that Jerusalem no longer has a wall and gates. The fact that the city walls are badly damaged means that the inhabitants are without the necessary protection against enemies. The walls represent the separation from evil. There is no more separation between holy and unholy. The gates speak of letting in the good and removing the wrong. The gates speak of exercising Divine care or discipline.

God wants the walls of Jerusalem to be called salvation and its gates praise (Isa 60:18b). Separation from evil means salvation, salvation for God’s people and assures their continuance as God’s people. To be a people that sings His praises requires care and discipline. Unjudged sin prevents praise.

We might have expected that after the return of a remnant, this remnant would have experienced God’s special blessing by giving them the evidence of His approval. On the contrary, they are “in great distress and reproach”.

We can apply this to the situation that had arisen at the beginning of the nineteenth century, after believers from all kinds of denominations discovered the state of the church according to God’s thoughts. They separated themselves from man-made systems according to the Old Testament model, where the Lord Jesus was not given the place He deserves or where evil teachings about Him were proclaimed without exercising God’s discipline (Heb 13:13; 2Tim 2:19-22). Thereupon they came together in the Name of the Lord Jesus (Mt 18:20).

This movement can be compared to what was taking place under Ezra. In Ezra we read about the restoration of the altar – applied: renewed view of the Lord’s Table – and the rebuilding of the temple – applied: renewed view of what the church of the living God is. But the fire and characteristic dedication of this movement has been extinguished. Love for the Lord and His Word and care for one another has faded away. The receiving at the Table of the Lord of all God’s children who do not live in sin nor are associated with sin has disappeared. Those who grew up in the tradition of that movement have largely fallen prey to liberalism on the one hand and sectarianism on the other.

The walls have been badly damaged, the gates burned. The movement resulting from a work of the Spirit has come to a standstill. What is left floats either on traditionalism or on emotion under the influence of charismatic teachings or on worldly thought patterns – products of postmodern thought – or on a mixture of these practices. The Word of God remains closed in many cases. It does not need to be opened if we find our certainty in tradition, feeling or reason. If the Word is opened, it is used to underline one’s own right or to make it clear that nothing can be said with certainty.

However, we may ask ourselves how it is in our personal lives, with the wall of separation from the world, with the wall of prayer and reading the Bible, with the wall of faithful imitation of the Lord Jesus, with the wall of personal surrender and living testimony, the wall of being a Christian every day. Are these walls in ruins?

Some lessons

1. When we ask about the situation of God’s people, we will discover that there is great unfaithfulness.

2. The walls, picture of separation, have been demolished. The separation between the church and the world has disappeared. At first hesitantly, the world has now been let in with great enthusiasm. She is taken in to tell how things should be done in the church, both in her meetings and in her preaching of the gospel.

3. The gates, picture of justice, have been burned. The evil that has entered is not judged. In the church everyone does what he or she thinks is right. A possible voice of protest is silenced.