The book of Nehemiah is a prophetic picture of the building of the church in these last days. Nehemiah, whose name means ‘comforter,’ is a typeology of the Holy Spirit and His work in the church. In the book, the people of Judah were released from captivity in Babylon and permitted to return to the promised land (prophetic metaphor for our salvation) and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem (prophetic metaphor for the church).
Sanballat, Gesham, and Tobiah represent the enemy of our soul, the world, the unbelievers, and Satan, etc. These folks obviously have a profound interest in preventing the work of the Lord being done in the church (the building of the wall). I’m going to handle this scenario with kid gloves over two or three posts to attempt to extract as much meaning as I can.
1Now it came about that when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious and very angry and mocked the Jews.
2He spoke in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy men of Samaria and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones?”
3Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and he said, “Even what they are building–if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!” (Nehemiah 4:1-3)
I wanted to point out six enemy strategies employed to undermine the work of the Lord in building the church. Since it would be too long for the web 2.0 folks if I tried to do all six in one post, I’ll break it into two posts. Here goes:
Strategy #1: Attack the identity of the church. Sanballat’s first response to the work of the Lord was to issue the statement, “What are these feeble Jews doing?” The statement is designed to attack the identity of the believer by questioning who he is in God, and who God is in him. His assessment that the Jews were ‘feeble’ is a negative prophetic declaration that their God is powerless to work through them. How many times have you heard this attack in your personal walk with the Lord?
Strategy #2: Question the people’s motives. “Are they going to restore it for themselves,” asked Sanballat. The enemy will always question our motives when we get into the center of God’s will for our lives in an attempt to envoke false humility, fear, or pause. The building of the wall most certainly would benefit the children of Israel, but this was not their primary reason for building it. They were doing the work of God. Have you ever noticed that every time you fast, you’ll have the thought that ‘you’re just doing this so men will think you’re holy.’ Oldest trick in the book. Don’t fall for it.
Strategy #3: Question their relationship with God. “Can they offer sacrifices?” It’s a shallow stab at the relationship of the people of Judah to their God. If the enemy can get us to focus on our religious practices, or lack thereof, he stands a reasonable chance of getting us to stop building the wall. It’s not about us anyway. God has commissioned us for this work, and he knew us before the foundations of the Earth. He is not impressed with our holiness, and not discouraged by our lack of holiness. He accepts us as we are and challenges us to go higher in His love without condemnation.
Tune in next time for the next three enemy strategies to undermine the work of the Lord.
Timely reminders! We need to put on our armor each day knowing that our enemy seeks our demise.
Good word. Blessings to you.
Thanks, Lorrie. It is important that we put on our armor. The whole point of this study is to outline enemy strategy so that we can be sober and vigilent.