Nehemiah 8:9-10 And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said to all the people… I. EZRA FELT THE UNIQUE POWER OF THE NATION'S LITERATURE. For him it contained all that is best for men to do, and happiest to desire. Therefore, he and his fellow-reformers were "the men of the book" of the law of the Lord, using it as "the man of their counsel" a fount of refreshing, a goad to penitence, and a stimulus to faith, generosity, and joy. II. GOD IS INFINITE, AND NO MAN, NAY, NOT ALL MEN, CAN EXPRESS HIM; BUT EVERY TRUE SOUL MAY SAY SOMETHING ABOUT HIM, and every nature He trains by His spirit may either add something of freshness of setting and force of applicability to an old truth, or open for some soul new glimpses of His wondrous fulness. High thoughts do not disdain lowly minds. The ascent to the loftiest ranges of light and power is given, not to a prophet like the seraphic Isaiah, nor to a singing poet like David, nor to a great leader like Moses, but to Nehemiah, a courtier and a statesman, a politician and a reformer. Nehemiah is for the moment lifted to the highest grade of teachers, and placed by the side of Christ when He says, "These words have I spoken to you that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." He has fellowship with Paul, when he rejoices that he is counted worthy to preach "the glorious gospel of the happy God." He anticipates Christianity in its most vital and essential element; links together in natural sequence the two economies; shows that God is a Being hot coldly impressive, stolidly majestic, without sympathy, but tender-hearted, forgiving, delighting in mercy, and plenteous in redemption; a God whose joy is strength for troubled men. III. TO ME IT APPEARS LIKE A STROKE OF TRUE GENIUS AS MEN CALL IT — a breath of inspiration from God, as I would name it — THAT NEHEMIAH DELIVERS THIS HIGHER AND RICHER MESSAGE CONCERNING GOD AT THE MOMENT WHEN THE PEOPLE ARE PROFOUNDLY STIRRED BY THE RECENTLY REDISCOVERED MESSAGE OF THE ANCIENT LAW, AND OVERWHELMED WITH DEJECTION AND SORROW for their newly-revealed sins. The law is not a goal, but a light and a goad; a light on the way to God, and a goad to petition for His pardon. This disclosure of sin and penalty is intended, like the flames out of the mountain, to hurry the approach of the pilgrim to the wicket-gate of repentance. IV. "GOD'S JOY A STRONGHOLD" (marginal rendering). Who can tell the immense strength infused into a soul to whom God is an ever-present, ever-bright consciousness of infinite joy? Such a consciousness of the presence of the joyful God flings around us an all-protecting shield from the shafts of doubt and care; builds about us a defensive tower from obtrusive fears; delivers us from the world, with its ceaseless din, low ideals, etc.; from the flesh, with its blinding passion, base motive, and thwarting caprice; and from the devil, with his insinuations of the necessity of evil, the selfishness of the good, and the folly of righteousness. 1. This consciousness of God's presence makes to us this world of nature a new creation, instinct with a new significance, and potent with an evangelical energy. We know we are under law. We accept the teachings of science as the teachings of our Father God, and rejoice in its demonstrations of the Abiding Order and Fixed Law of this world because we know the Lawgiver Himself is not a stern Draco, imaged only in the desolating earthquake, fire-belching volcano, and fierce tornado; but a Father, yea, our Father and Redeemer, and that we belong to Him and not to the house in which He has put us. 2. This consciousness makes us feel that the bitter and painful experiences of life are part of the Divine order and plan of a loving and rejoicing Father. A poor fellow said to me after thrusts and stabs of bewildering pain that almost made him reel, "Still, we know it's all right, don't we? We know whom we have believed, and are persuaded we are not going to lose anything we have given over to Him." Such testimonies show how the consciousness of God changes the very face of sorrow; that grief is a joy misunderstood; that the burdens of life are its benedictions; that the old gospel is still new, and that though in the world men may have tribulation, in Christ they have peace. Such testimonies interpret to me the rapturous experiences of persecuted and afflicted men that in my earlier years I was tempted to think over-weighted and unreal: Samuel Rutherford, Payson, Doddridge, Erskine, Robertson, F. R. Havergal, Mrs. Prentiss, and many others. 3. This pervading consciousness of the happiness of God invests death itself with a new mission, forces it to take its place amongst the servants of the Father and the friends of His children. "Absent from the body, we are at home with the Lord." V. THE JOY OF GOD IS THE SOURCE OF OUR ACTIVE, SELF-FORGETTING GENEROSITY. "Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions for whom nothing is prepared." Whatever God is, He is for us. Whatever God is for us and to us, it is that we may be the same for and to others. Joy in the Lord is strength, positive actual power for ministry. It creates around us the most favourable atmosphere for evoking our resources; raises our entire nature to the highest pitch of energy, and gives unwonted elasticity and capacity of tension to all our faculties. As bodies expand under heat, so the soul enlarges under the genial influence of joy. Indeed, men never reach their best before they have mastered the whole gamut of joy, from the lowest note of cheerfulness to the highest of rapture. As some men do business without obtaining s fiftieth part of the profit gained by others, so some Christians never "nett" the "great gains" that flow from a cheerful piety. Vast is the difference between working for God from a sense of responsibility and from a delight which springs out of fellowship with Christ. Responsibility is a goad. Joy is a magnet. One pricks and urges forward by a sense of painfulness that reduces all work to the severe limits of obedience to imperative and resistless orders. The other is life; and such is its magic it converts even hard toil into play, and makes it as welcome as song to the merry birds, or sport to romping children. The joy of God is strength for the suppression of all life's evils, the solace of all sad hearts, and the service of all for whom nothing is prepared. Conclusion : 1. The God of the Hebrews is no mere object of worship seated coldly apart and awaiting the homage of men; He is a radiant presence, inspiring the mandate, "Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous." 2. Remember, too, that the joy of our friends is our strength. The bare sight of some men is an instant dismissal of despair. The arrival of another is as the report of a disaster. A light heart dissipates gloom as the sun lifts fog. The joy of friends is a flowing fountain of perennial strength. 3. What an exhaustless fund of gladness is a free, healthy, simple, and natural child; how unspeakably indebted many of us are to the irrepressible joy and strange, heaven-sent wisdom of children for the loss of our moroseness, acerbity, and misery. The joy of children is our strength. 4. It is a common experience, this contagion of joy —this conversion of joy into power. Rejoice, then, in the God of joy, and minister to those for whom nothing is prepared. Pour out your gladness for other hearts. Restrain it, and you destroy it. Cage your lark, and it will not sing. Open the door, give it access to the wide heavens, and away it goes merrily chanting its music up to heaven's gate. (J. Clifford, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. |
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