Message 2
Scripture Reading: Neh. 1:1-11; 2:1-8, 17-20
In this message we will consider Nehemiah’s aggressiveness and the need for the proper aggressiveness in the Lord’s recovery today.
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah describe the return of the captives from Babylon to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and repair the wall for God’s house and God’s kingdom. In order for God to have a house and a kingdom on the earth, three sections of work were needed. First, there was a need for some of the captivity to come back from Babylon to Jerusalem to lay a foundation for the formation of a nation. This required a strong government, a strong administration. Second, there was the need of teaching and education to bring the people of God into a culture that was according to God. Such a culture was not an Egyptian kind nor a Canaanite kind nor a Babylonian kind but was God’s kind, a culture that expressed God. This kind of culture required a great deal of education. Third, there was the need to constitute the nation organically. This section of the work was concerned with the constitution of God’s people.
The word constitution is ambiguous. According to the common notion, this word refers to a document which is the constitution of a country, for example, the Constitution of the United States of America. This understanding of constitution is too narrow. In our usage, the word constitution refers to something organic which has a number of elements. If the government of a country is constituted not only organizationally but also organically, that government will not be lifeless. On the contrary, such a government will be something that is living and organic.
At the expiration of the seventy years of the captivity in Babylon, the omnipotent, sovereign God moved in a hidden way to stir up King Cyrus openly to release the Israelite captives to go back to their own land to build up God’s temple (Ezra 1:1-4). Also, King Cyrus brought out the vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and had put into the house of his gods (v. 7). These vessels were then returned to Jerusalem (v. 11). This return from captivity was under the kingly leadership of Zerubbabel, a descendant of the royal family of David (2:1-2). If we study carefully the record concerning him in the Bible, we will see that he was a strong governor and was very able in managing the people.
Later, there was a second return from captivity under the priestly leadership of Ezra, a descendant of the priestly family. Ezra was not a high-ranking official in Persia. Rather, he was a priest and a scribe who was skilled in the law of Moses (7:6). Although he did not have any rank there in Persia, he was bold, strong, and aggressive in presenting a petition to the king of Persia. The king granted all his request, doing everything Ezra had asked.
The presenting of this petition was not initiated by God — it was initiated by Ezra. As the one who took the initiative in this matter, Ezra was a man who trusted in God and who was one with God. He was skilled in the Word of God and he knew God’s heart, God’s desire, and God’s economy. Because of all this, he was a person of excellent character and reputation before the king. If Ezra had not had such a standing in the eyes of the king, the king would not have authorized him to appoint magistrates and judges (v. 25).
Nehemiah, the son of Hacaliah, was not a counselor of the king nor a captain of the army. He was just a cupbearer, one who served wine to the king. But in his living and behavior he must have built up something that earned the king’s respect. Nehemiah had never been sad in the king’s presence (Neh. 2:1). One day the king said to him, “Why is your face sad, since you are not ill? This is nothing other than sadness of heart” (v. 2). Being aggressive, Nehemiah took advantage of this opportunity and said, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in waste and its gates are consumed with fire?” (v. 3). The king asked him what his request was, and Nehemiah asked the king to send him to Judah that he might rebuild the city of his fathers (v. 5). Nehemiah went on to request that letters would be given to him for the governors so that they would let him pass through. He asked also for a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the Park, so that he would give him timber (vv. 7-8). The king granted to Nehemiah all that he had requested.
We are not told that Nehemiah was stirred up by God. Rather, according to 1:1-2, he asked one of his brothers and some others who came from Judah about those who were left from the captivity and about Jerusalem. They told him that the people were in an exceedingly bad state and reproach and that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and its gates had been burned with fire (v. 3). When Nehemiah heard this report, he wept, mourned, fasted, and prayed (v. 4). He did not call a prayer meeting, and he did not ask those who gave the report to pray about the situation. He prayed by himself with a real burden.
In principle, these three sections — government, education, and constitution — have been present in the Lord’s recovery through the centuries. Some are raised up and stirred up by God, and some volunteer. Some are in a high position, and some are common people. But all must be bold and strong in character and aggressive. All who have been used by God through history have been aggressive persons. For example, both Paul and Martin Luther were very aggressive. Brother Nee also, even though he was a gentleman, was very aggressive.
Nehemiah surely was an aggressive person. He volunteered himself, in a sense, not to God but to his burden. He had a burden to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. His aggressiveness was very much used by God.
In the Lord’s recovery today there are many good saints, but we are short of aggressiveness. If just five thousand among us were aggressive, the world would be turned upside down. If there were seven hundred aggressive ones in each continent, a great deal would issue forth for the carrying out of God’s economy.
In our reading of the book of Nehemiah, we need to pay attention to Nehemiah’s aggressiveness. Although he was a common man, a servant of the king, he was aggressive to volunteer himself to God and to his burden concerning the building up of the city. He was also aggressive in making his requests known to the king. When the king asked him about his sad face, he spoke to the king in a bold, aggressive way about his burden for the city of Jerusalem. It is important that we see this in the Word.
At this juncture we need to consider a matter that is significant in the typology in the Old Testament and in the fulfillment of the types in the New Testament. In typology many persons were temporarily used by God according to their natural capacity and natural virtues to signify something spiritual. An example of this is Nehemiah and his aggressiveness, which was a virtue in his human conduct. Whereas in typology natural things were used by God temporarily, in the fulfillment of the types in the New Testament, all the natural virtues and capacities should be brought to the cross. They need to be put to the cross and crossed out.
Many among us think that to put a certain thing to the cross means to put that thing to an end. In a sense, this is correct. However, according to the real significance of the cross of Christ, the cross does not mean merely that something is put to an end but that the natural things are crossed out in order to be brought into resurrection. The cross of Christ brings all natural things to death and burial. But according to the Bible, burial is followed by resurrection. Burial is therefore the threshold of resurrection. Whatever is buried will be resurrected. According to John 12:24 a grain of wheat falls into the ground, dies, and is buried. But this is not the end. After burial, something will come forth in resurrection.
Let us consider the example of Moses. I believe that Moses had a strong character and that in his natural constitution he was even more aggressive than Nehemiah was. At the age of forty Moses aggressively volunteered to save Israel out of the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, but God came in to limit him, allowing him to fail and be disappointed. Moses was then “buried” in the wilderness for forty years. Eventually, the resurrecting God came in to resurrect Moses (Exo. 3:2-6).
God made us with certain virtues and capacities in our natural constitution. Matthew 25:15 tells us that the “talents” are given according to our “own ability,” that is, our natural ability, which is constituted of God’s creation and our learning. This ability needs to be crossed out and then brought into resurrection.
This was the experience of all the able and capable apostles, such as Paul and Peter. Peter, for instance, was in the “tomb” for three and a half years. Whenever he crept out of the tomb, the Lord Jesus would send him back to the tomb. On the night of the Lord’s betrayal, Peter was so bold and aggressive as to say to the Lord, “Even if I must die with You, I will by no means deny You!” (Mark 14:31). Peter went on to tell Him that others might forsake Him but he would never do so. What boldness! What aggressiveness! The Lord told Peter, “Truly I say to you that today in this night, before a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times” (v. 30). Once again, Peter was put to the cross and buried.
If our natural capacity, natural ability, and natural virtues are not crossed out, they will cause a great deal of trouble and will be the source of big mistakes. But if we allow our natural capacity, ability, and virtues to be brought to the cross and die, we will be resurrected. Then in resurrection our capability, ability, and virtues will be many times greater than they were in the natural life. These things are still ours, but having passed through death and burial, they are now in resurrection. This means that we ourselves, with our capacity, ability, and virtues, have entered into resurrection. We continue to exist, but we with our natural ability have been brought into resurrection.
The reality of resurrection is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the consummated Triune God. Resurrection, therefore, is the consummated Triune God. Our natural capacity, ability, and virtue need to be transferred from our natural life into the consummated Triune God through death and burial. In ourselves we are natural, but when we are transferred out of ourselves into God, who is resurrection, we enter into resurrection.
This is a very important principle for interpreting the types and their fulfillment. If we do not apply this principle, all the natural capacities, abilities, and virtues, unchecked by crucifixion, will be like “wild beasts” among us.
This has been the situation with many capable ones who came into the recovery and stayed for a while. They eventually realized that in the recovery there was no ground for them to employ their natural capacity and ability. Eventually, they left the recovery and formed a work for themselves. They were not willing to accept crucifixion and burial in order to be brought into resurrection. They could not take the cross. This is the reason certain capable persons who have come into the recovery do not remain.
God needs people who are highly educated. For example, he needed someone like Moses, who was “educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22). If Moses had not been an educated person, God would not have used him to give the law. However, we should not trust our natural wisdom or education. It is risky to put our trust in such things. We need to be one with God. If we are one with God, we will put our natural wisdom and education to the cross. The more we do this, the more we will be in resurrection.
It is never a loss to sow the “seed” of our natural ability into the ground. When we sow a seed we lose it temporarily, but eventually there will be a harvest in resurrection.
Nehemiah was one who lived not in his natural man but in resurrection. He was aggressive, but his aggressiveness was accompanied by other characteristics. First, he loved God. There is no doubt about this. He was born in captivity and was appointed to be the king’s cupbearer, but he loved God. He also loved the holy land (signifying Christ), the holy temple (signifying the church), and the holy city (signifying the kingdom of God). He loved God and, in typology, he loved Christ, the church, and the kingdom. As a person who loved God, Nehemiah was one who contacted God. We are told a number of times that Nehemiah prayed to God (Neh. 1:4; 2:4b; 4:4-5, 9). Furthermore, Nehemiah trusted in God and even became one with God.
In himself Nehemiah’s aggressiveness was natural, but in God his aggressiveness was in resurrection. Nehemiah was an aggressive person who loved God, the holy land, the holy temple, and the holy city, who contacted God and had fellowship with Him, who trusted in God, and who was one with God. As a result, he became the representative of God. We need to be clear about this in order to understand the intrinsic significance of the type according to the insight given by the Spirit.
