While fulfilling a promise to speak in New York, British author Salmon Rushdie faced a test of survival during a knife attack by an enemy looking to kill him. Because of that, he lost one eye and feeling in his middle two fingers. This great trouble made him value each day even more.
The Survival of the Jews
Let’s look at Nehemiah chapter one verses one through eleven as we consider our own survival in our ever changing world.
The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.
Nehemiah 1:1-11
Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”
As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”
Now I was cupbearer to the king.
New York City Never Sleeps
New York City is always on the move. The city that never sleeps is home to the Rockefeller Center. A quick glance at the Associated Press building in Rockefeller Plaza reveals the eye-catching 22 foot steel statue titled News stretched across the entrance. It was sculpted by Isamu Noguchi, arguably one of the best American sculptors of the 20th century.
But that was before American sentiment shifted to suspicion, accusation and discrimination against Japanese Americans due to the attack on Pearl Harbor. As a result, Americans who were considered a threat to U.S. security were placed in internment camps.
Isamu Noguchi – Nisei (Second Generation)
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Self Exile Survival
During the start of WWII, Isamu Noguchi voluntarily walked into an American internment camp named the Colorado River Relocation Center. By doing so, he chose to exile himself from a lucrative career that included creating portraits of Hollywood movie stars in favor of an internment camp. So, he was optimistic about creating an arts and crafts program, designing recreation areas, and gardens. But those dreams pulled him through the shameful gates with the other Asian “enemies” of America.
Because of the trouble he experienced at the interment camp, his soul was torn. For example, he said, “Because of my peculiar background, I felt this war very keenly, and wished to serve the cause of democracy in the best way that seemed open to me,” he explained “a haunting sense of unreality, of not quite belonging, which has always bothered me, made me seek for an answer among the Nisei.” Nisei means second generation.
We Struggle for Survival
Meanwhile, in Nehemiah’s day, the survivors were in great trouble and shame. When great trouble and shame threatens to destroy our lives, we struggle to survive. Since we struggle to survive, we need God’s identity.
We desperately need:
- God’s promise
- God’s assurance
- God’s servant
Firstly, let’s consider why we need God’s promise.
We Need God’s Promise for Survival
We need God’s promise because our survival doesn’t depend on our own strength. There is no stability in this world because it’s always shifting and changing. Part of that instability stems from the fact that as sinful people we live in a world where lies litter the landscape. Even when we keep our promises, they won’t necessarily anticipate future change because we don’t possess God’s perspective from heaven. As earth dwellers, even the best of our promises are shortsighted.
Nehemiah couldn’t stand at the news of the destruction of Jerusalem. The exportation of the Jewish exiles by the Babylonians was too much. In chapter one verse five we see him fasting and praying to the great and awesome God in heaven who keeps covenant and love. This covenant and God’s ability to keep it, is God’s promise.
A Love Appeal for Survival Sake
Enduring the Babylonian invasion and exile from Jerusalem, the Jews needed more than a promise from man to rebuild their lives and Jerusalem. They needed the great and awesome God in heaven to keep his covenant, in his love. Nehemiah appeals to God’s love that never changes. A love from above that would ultimately create a new covenant through Jesus Christ. But what is a covenant anyways? That’s a big topic, but let’s compare a covenant and a promised agreement or contract.
People make promises all the time. What should we think about these promises? A promise from a person, no matter how sincere they are in making it, is way different than a covenant from God. If the promise starts with a human being, it’s not a covenant. It’s more like a contract or an agreement. But, if it originates from God, you have a covenant. So the starting point or origin of a promise determines the difference between an agreement (made by man) and a covenant (initiated by God.)
Castaway on the Moon
The movie Castaway on the Moon could be considered many things. A drama, a comedy and a romance. But the castaways find themselves in a context that makes it a story of survival.
Protagonist Kim Seong-geun, overwhelmed by his massive debt in the business world, jumps off a bridge in desperation. Rather than dying, he ends up on a remote island where he survives extreme physical and emotional challenges in isolation. His plea for help is spotted by a woman who is buried in anxiety confining her to her room. Her name is Kim Jung-yeon. She takes pictures of the moon at night, but one night she spots her fellow castaway.
They struggle to communicate, but fall in love. She sends him messages in a bottle and he communicates through messages etched on the sand. He worked hard for his survival, even growing food, but eventually his new home and life was destroyed once again.
Kim Seong-geun reemerges into modern society by taking a bus to fulfill his death wish by jumping off a building. The woman, Kim Jung-yeon, bravely emerges from her shuttered life, leaves her room and runs down his bus, delayed by a civil defense drill. She kept her promise to him and her love changed his life.
Not Our Home
As exiles in this world, our ultimate survival isn’t here, because this world is not our home. So, in our brokenness we must look for a better place, with better promises.
For example, when your child invests loads of time and effort in hopes of being accepted by their dream school only to see those dreams destroyed by failure. Remind them that God extends not just a better place, but a better life, unbroken by the disappointments that we experience. God provides belonging, rights and responsibilities as citizens of heaven that are eternally unbroken.
That is reassuring!
God’s Assurance From Heaven of Our Survival
God assures us of a hope in heaven that will never change because he is the only one who can gather us to himself.
God made a covenant based on his desire for relationship with the Jews through Moses in Nehemiah 1:8-9 that reads:
Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’
Nehemiah 1:8-9
Gathered to Worship
God has always wanted to gather people close to himself to worship him. In Nehemiah’s day, Jerusalem was the place God chose for that to happen. But in the Old Testament of the Bible there were limitations as to how close you could actually get to God. There was a need for a person like Moses to act as a go between with God and the Jewish people. Nehemiah also served as a go-between for the Jewish people of his day. In verses eight and nine, he asked God to remember his promise to gather his servants, the Jews, back to Jerusalem.
The Greater Go-Between
However, in the New Testament of the Bible, God gathers all who hope in him through his Spirit. The Spirit of God points people to Jesus Christ, the greater go-between. Humanity will never need another Nehemiah, nor another Moses because through Jesus Christ, God gives us assurance that we can hope in. Moses and Nehemiah were sinful and flawed men. Jesus Christ was not. He is the greater and unequaled go-between because he is fully God and fully man, who never sinned. Although we haven’t seen the fullness of his gathering yet, we eagerly hope for it.
Gathered for Battle at Helms Deep
In the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Gandalf (a wizard with great and awesome power) assured his ally Aragorn that he would keep his commitment to bring them victory in the Battle for Helms Deep. But they had to wait 5 days for Gandalf to appear. They hoped in Gandalf’s ability to keep his promise, without seeing him.
Gandalf Gathers Reinforcements
The sun rises, blinding their enemies when Gandalf appears in the nick of time with reinforcements to save the day, just as they hoped he would. Aragon wasn’t hoping to win the battle of Helm’s Deep, he was just hoping that Gandalf would keep his promise to them.
Visible Hope for Survival
When we hope in things we see, like a business startup, a person’s love for us, or a purchased experience promising exquisite tastes or lasting memories, they can’t hold our hope consistently. They were never meant to assure us. The elation or disappointment they deliver won’t last. But, let’s consider why.
God designed us to hope in the one who dwells outside of all of these things so that we can experience his faithfulness in keeping his covenant. What would it look like to allow that truth to impact our choices? I’m not talking about feeling guilty for pursuing a dream, or enjoying a special memory with loved ones.
But, I wonder … would we approach a business startup in a more holistic way if profit wasn’t king? Or perhaps we’d put down our forks and fancy cakes to give those resources away. Would that allow us to point others back to the one who gave them to us in the first place? We can do that because God keeps hope for us. It’s beyond a guarantee. It’s settled by God in heaven. He keeps a greater hope than what we can see.
The Successful Servant
Nehemiah was successful. God answered his prayer. He rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem with a team of exiles. The Jews gathered in Jerusalem. He was successful because he appealed to God’s promise of assurance found in God’s love for his people. We see this in verse eleven. God granted him success.
O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”
Nehemiah 1:11
But Nehemiah wasn’t the successful servant. Nehemiah was a go-between praying for God’s people, but he wasn’t able to do what only Jesus Christ, God’s successful servant did. Nehemiah wasn’t able to deliver his people from the tremendous trouble of their sin. He wasn’t able to pay the price that sin demands through his own blood. He wasn’t able to rise from the dead after three days.
God’s successful servant Jesus Christ was. We see in verse 10 that God redeemed his people by his great power and strong hand. Jesus Christ bridged the gap from heaven to earth. Exiled from heaven, Jesus kept God’s commandments perfectly. And by doing this, he gathers us to dwell with God forever.
We need God’s successful servant Jesus Christ.
God’s Ultimate Gathering
Revelation 7:9-10 gives us a glimpse of God’s ultimate gathering of his own from every tribe, peoples and languages because of Jesus Christ, God’s successful servant.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
Revelation 7:9-10
The greater go-between has come to gather his own to himself. God promises.
The Lamb slaughtered for our sins. He has risen. God assures.
God gave us his successful servant.
He remembered his promise.
Jesus is our survival.
We need him.
Amen.
