The Walls Of Salvation

Texts:  Nehemiah 2: 1-6

                ¹ ‍And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.‍ ² ‍Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,‍ ³ ‍And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?‍ ⁴ ‍Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.‍ ⁵ ‍And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.‍ ⁶ ‍And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. ‍^[1]

            Nebuchadnezzar had dominated  Israel; Accordingly, Nehemiah and his fellow Jews were carried away into Babylonian custody.

Down the road, the Medes and the Persians conquered the kingdom of Babylon, and replaced it with the Media-Persian Empire. Nehemiah developed a very good reputation with the Persian King Artaxerxes. Nehemiah became the king’s cupbearer. His occupation was to taste the king’s wine to guarantee that it was not poisoned. Nehemiah was in a position of crucial reliance.

In Nehemiah 2 we see how Nehemiah went before the king with a sad countenance. He had never before been sad in the company of the king.

 Artaxerxes asked why Nehemiah was so sad. His response came in verse 3: “…why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, [Jerusalem] the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?”

King Artaxerxes treasured Nehemiah since he served him loyally for so long. Nebuchadnezzar asked what he could do for him.

            Nehemiah responded that he wanted to go back and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The king gave Nehemiah letters that would grant permission for the rebuilding and supply the resources needed for the development.

The king even dispatched captains of the army and horsemen with Nehemiah to accomplish the task.

After arriving in Jerusalem and seeing the desolation, Nehemiah told his men, “…come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.”

As the building advanced, Sanballat and Tobiah became furious that  Israel was fortifying themselves. Sanballat was a Moabite and Tobiah was an Ammonite. Moabites are from  the Moab Mountains in Jordan. Ammonites are from Amman, Jordan. These were both Arabs who did not want Jerusalem’s walls reconstructed. They wrongly accused Nehemiah and his companions of rebelling against the king

For fifty-two days, the Jews labored day and night to reconstruct the wall. When Sanballat realized that he could not stop the building, he sent the army of Samaria to launch an assault against Nehemiah and his men. In spite of all this, the wall was completed.

Over the last three years, 1,200 people have been killed in Israel due to Palestinian terrorist attacks. As a result,  Israel is building a security fence  250-miles long and  25 feet high in many places. The design of the wall is to keep Arab terrorists out.

Palestinians understand that, once the wall is finished, they will no longer have terrorism to rely on as we know it today.

They realize Israel will have a higher level of security . Therefore, they are fighting the wall’s creation every way they can.

In October 2003, a Palestinian suicide bomber murdered 22 people in a restaurant in Haifa. No resolution was presented to the UN condemning this atrocious attack. Yet when Israel sped up its plans to build its security fence because of the attack, the Palestinians presented a resolution to the UN Security Council aimed at shutting down the construction. Remarkably, the resolution would have passed had it not been vetoed by the United States.

Just like it was 2600 years ago, the haters of Israel are frantic to stop the construction of Israel’s security wall. The fight to fortify Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s day ushered in the Second Temple era. The conflict we are witnessing today over Israel’s security fence is ushering in the Third Temple era.  There is a vision right now held by the many of the highest religious leaders of Israel  for A Third Temple In Jerusalem.

The First Temple was constructed by Solomon in 968 B.C. In 586 B.C., it was destroyed due of Israel’s revolt and waywardness. Seventy years later, in Nehemiah’s time, the Second Temple era was established. During this era we saw  Daniel, Ezra, Zerubbabel, Habakkuk and Zechariah. Their leadership and preaching brought  motivation to the nation  to build the Second Temple.

Many people don’t realize there are plans for a Third Temple in Israel. There is a prophecy of the Third Temple in Ezekiel chapter 37.

There is an enemy who wants to sift us as wheat. 

Luke 22: 31 ‍And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:‍ ³² ‍But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.‍ ³³ ‍And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.‍ ³⁴ ‍And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.^[2]

What happened to Peter?  Satan tempted him to deny the Lord and he failed just as Jesus saw that he would, yet on the day of Pentecost, the Lord used Peter to bring forth the plan of salvation:  Acts 2:³⁸ ‍Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.‍ ³⁹ ‍For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.‍^[3]

Isaiah 60:18 ¹⁸ ‍Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise^[4]

God has a promise for you right here, right now:  that promise is that if you will commit your life completely to Jesus Christ that He will raise up the walls of Salvation in your life:  these walls will grant you peace protection from the enemy, faith to move mountains, and a desire to march on into a glorious future.  The walls of salvation that I am talking about right now are not walls of block and concrete, but rather they are spiritual walls erected up by the Spirit of God. 

You see, many times when we think of a wall, we may think of it as a bad think, like as when somebody has a wall up against hearing the gospel.  That is not the type of wall that I am referring to.  These are walls of salvation.  They are good walls.  These walls will keep out the enemy and they will keep  in the presence of God and His blessings.  If you will let Him in, He will construct these walls in your life: