Nehemiah 4:1-14: Facing Opposition (Part One)

Nehemiah 4:1-14: Facing Opposition (Part One)

Please turn with me in your Bible to Nehemiah 4. If you’re using one of the Story Bibles we provide, that’s on page 321. We’ve been going through the book of Nehemiah passage by passage and looking at how Nehemiah led the Israelites to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. And here in chapter 4, things begin to get very interesting as tensions between Nehemiah and his enemies almost get to the point of erupting into open warfare. So Nehemiah 4:1-14:

1 Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. 2 And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” 3 Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!” 4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. 5 Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders. 6 So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. 7 But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. 8 And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. 9 And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night. 10 In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” 11 And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” 12 At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.” 13 So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14 And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.” 

If you’ve ever gone through a time of uncertainty, you know it can be pretty stressful. I remember a little over a year ago, my sister was on a road trip to California with some of her friends. And as they were driving through the night, the driver apparently fell asleep at the wheel and crashed the vehicle. And unfortunately, my sister was not wearing a seatbelt since she was sleeping on the backseat, so she was actually ejected from the vehicle and had to be airlifted to the nearest hospital, which was in Salt Lake City. And her injuries were so serious that she almost died in the hospital several times right there on the operating table. Now thankfully, my sister did survive, but that was definitely a time of uncertainty for my family. Things truly could have gone either way. And that’s very similar to what things are like here in Nehemiah 4 as the Israelites try to rebuild Jerusalem’s wall. From a human perspective, we really don’t know what’s going to happen. Opposition to the building project is so intense that it brings the entire region to the brink of war. And yet, Nehemiah refuses to back down. That’s the main thing we see in this passage. Nehemiah continues building the wall in the face of significant opposition. Nehemiah continues building the wall in the face of significant opposition. And just like Nehemiah faced opposition, so will we as we pursue the mission God’s given us as Christians. We also will face opposition. Yet as we look at Nehemiah 4, we can identify three requirements for facing opposition successfully. Number one, recognize the reality of the opposition. Number two, understand the goal of the opposition. And number three, anticipate the fate of the opposition. 

Recognize the Reality of the Opposition

So first, recognize the reality of the opposition. For Nehemiah, the opposition was obvious. From the very beginning, Sanballat and Tobiah made no secret of their desire to do whatever they could to stop Nehemiah. And here in chapter 4, as they see the building project moving forward, they oppose it even more fiercely. Verse 1 states that when Sanballat hears about the project, “he was angry and greatly enraged.” So he begins to publically mock the Jews. And his friend Tobiah also joins in mocking them. He says in verse 3 that if a fox were to run up on top of the wall, the wall would probably crumble beneath the fox’s weight. And yet, Nehemiah refuses to be deterred by their jeers and keeps on building. So then Sanballat and Tobiah become even angrier and, in verse 8, start plotting with some others in the area to attack Jerusalem. In verse 11, they boast that, “They [the Israelites] will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” So the opposition Nehemiah faces is very real. It’s so real that in verse 13 he feels the need to get everyone in Jerusalem organized and ready for battle. 

And there’s an important principle for us to glean from that. Whenever we’re doing something for God, we should expect to face opposition. Now the opposition we face may not be as outwardly obvious as what Nehemiah faced, but be assured that it’s just as real. In fact, as I’m sure any experienced soldier would tell you, the threat we can’t see is often even deadlier than the threat we can see. So what is the threat against us as Christians? What kind of opposition do we face?  Well, in Ephesians 6, Paul tells us. He states, in verses 10-12, 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. So according to Paul, “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood.” In other words, we’re not fighting against human opponents or human armies. That’s why the Crusades of the middle ages were so terribly misguided. We’re definitely in the midst of a battle, but it’s a spiritual battle. The forces arrayed against us are spiritual rather than physical. 

And yet, that doesn’t make them any less real or any less dangerous. You know, I think a lot of Christians—especially Christians here in the West—have an unfortunate tendency to ignore the spiritual opposition we face. We may admit that Satan and demons exist since the Bible says they exist and we can’t get around that, but we usually don’t seem to take their existence very seriously. It’s like we deem them less real or less of a threat just because we can’t see them. But if you do that, let me just say you’re making grave error. For example, what would you say to me if you saw me eating chicken that was obviously way undercooked? You’d probably warn me that it might not be a good idea to eat that chicken without cooking it some more. But let’s say I responded that the chicken looked fine since I couldn’t see any harmful bacteria on it. And not only did the chicken look fine, it also tasted fine. I couldn’t taste any harmful bacteria. So then, you’d let me eat it, right? Hopefully not! Hopefully, you’d patiently explain to me that just because I can’t see or taste any harmful bacteria, that doesn’t mean they’re not present. Just because we can’t see the bacteria, that doesn’t make the bacteria are any less real or dangerous. So don’t make the mistake of ignoring demonic forces just because you can’t see them. How do you think things would have gone for Nehemiah if he had ignored the opposition and pretended it didn’t exist? Probably not very well. His enemies would have found him an easy target and would have probably killed everyone before lunchtime. So recognize the reality of the opposition. Honestly, there’s a high probability some of you have faced spiritual opposition already this very morning and not even recognized it for what it is. Recognize the reality of the opposition. 

Understand the Goal of the Opposition

And also, if you want to face opposition well, it helps to know what your opponent is doing and what he’s up to and what his goals are. So having recognized the reality of the opposition, we also want to understand the goal of the opposition. Nehemiah understood what his opponents wanted—namely to prevent the wall from being rebuilt. We can see that clearly enough from their boasting in verse 11: “And our enemies said, ‘They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.’” So their goal was to “stop the work.” And that was very important for Nehemiah to understand as he interacted with them. If he thought their goal was to do something other than stop the work, he probably wouldn’t have been able to counter their opposition very effectively. So you have to know what the opposition is trying to do. 

Think about the way banks design their security measures. Banks design their security with a very good understanding of what robbers are trying to do, which is to steal money and things that are worth money. So banks design their security measures to protect those things. Notice that when you walk into the bank, they have a massively impressive steel door in the entrance to what room? The room that has all the money and safety deposit boxes in it, right? Those are the things they’re trying to protect. They don’t take great pains to protect their blank deposit slips or their branded pens or their lollipops, do they? You know, I bet if you were really sneaky, you might be able to grab two lollipops from the basket instead of one—and they might not notice. I’m sure it’s been done. Because the security surrounding their lollipops is pretty minimal compared to the security surrounding their money room. They understand that the goal robbers have is to steal money, not dum-dums. So in order to effectively counter opposition, you have to understand what the opposition is trying to do. 

And for us today, here’s what that is. Here’s an easy way to identify exactly what Satan’s goals are. Just think about what God’s goals are and ask yourself, “What’s the opposite of those things?” Satan’s always trying to do the opposite of what God’s doing. So just ask yourself what God’s doing, and then you’ll also know by contrast what Satan’s wants to. So the Bible says that God’s ultimate goal is to get glory for himself. And the way God gets glory for himself is by rescuing us from our sins through Jesus. God sent Jesus, his own Son, to come to this earth and suffer the penalty for our sins on the cross. He died as our substitute, taking upon himself the wrath we deserved because of our sins. 1 Peter 3:18 states that “Christ…suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” And then after that, Jesus victoriously resurrected from the dead to prove that the Father had accepted his death as sufficient payment for sin and to make that same resurrection victory available to us as we look to Jesus alone for rescue. That’s a message we call the gospel. It’s the good news of who Jesus is and what he’s done to save us. And God’s central desire is for that gospel message to spread and be embraced by more and more people. 

So, if God’s goal is the spread of the gospel, Satan’s goal must be to sabotage the spread of the gospel. That’s what he’s trying to do. Listen to me: every move Satan makes is carefully calculated to prevent the gospel from spreading. Just like Nehemiah’s enemies in our main text were trying to sabotage the building project, Satan’s trying to sabotage the gospel’s advance in everything he does. So here are some things we can expect him to do. And I’ll just present these very briefly. These are all ways Satan tries to sabotage the gospel’s advance. Number one, Satan will try to discourage non-Christians from embracing the gospel. Maybe he’ll plant seeds of doubt in their minds about the gospel or maybe he’ll try to confuse them with ideas about the gospel that aren’t true. Or maybe he’ll encourage them to endlessly procrastinate their response to the gospel as if it isn’t a terribly urgent matter. Then not only will Satan discourage non-Christians from embracing the gospel, he’ll also discourage Christians from sharing the gospel. He’ll tell you that you’re not qualified or capable of talking about Jesus effectively. He’ll create an unreasonable fear within you of what people might think of you if you talk about Jesus. Satan may even encourage you to spend all your time hanging out with Christians so that you never really develop meaningful relationships with those who aren’t Christians yet. So in various ways, Satan discourages Christians from sharing the gospel. Then number three, Satan will try to derail your spiritual life so that you won’t be very effective in sharing the gospel. He’ll tempt you to walk in sin and thereby discredit yourself as a witness. He’ll try to get you wrapped up in earthly concerns and earthly priorities so that you’ll be spiritually lethargic and not very zealous for spreading the gospel. Then finally, number four, Satan will try to divide our church so that we won’t be functioning as the missionary outpost God wants us to be. We’ll be too busy putting out the fires of division and discord and gossip to think very much about our mission. And of course, when non-Christians see all of that happening within the church, we don’t have much credibility when we talk to them about the gospel. In other words, division hinders our church from spreading the gospel both by diverting our attention and by diminishing our credibility. So Satan would love to sow seeds of discord and grumbling and gossip and fault-finding within our church. In 2 Corinthians 2:11, Paul states that he’s made efforts to pursue unity in the church “so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” And that’s really a good verse to keep in mind as we think about all of the ways Satan tries to sabotage the gospel. Don’t let yourself be outwitted by Satan by being ignorant of his designs. 

Anticipate the Fate of the Opposition

Then finally, having recognized the reality of the opposition and understood the goal of the opposition, we should also anticipate the fate of the opposition. That’s the third point. Anticipate the fate of the opposition. Because especially if the opposition seems powerful, facing that opposition can be quite discouraging. I’m sure Nehemiah was tempted to just throw in the towel during this whole ordeal. In verses 10-12, we read that many of the other Israelites had already determined it was time to throw in the towel. Look what it says: 10 In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” 11 And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” 12 At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.” So a lot of the other Israelites had already come to the conclusion that this project of rebuilding the wall was just too much. The work was too hard, and the opposition was too great. So even a lot of Israelites approach the workers a total of ten times and urge them to return to their villages. That’s why I’m sure Nehemiah was tempted to lose heart as well. But he doesn’t do that. And that’s probably the most notable thing about this passage. Nehemiah perseveres. He refuses to quit even when it looks like things are falling apart and an attack is imminent. Look at verses 13-14: 13 So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14 And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.” So what keeps Nehemiah from losing heart and convinces him that he actually can prevail against the opposition? The answer’s there in verse 14: “Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome.” Nehemiah’s confidence was in the greatness and power and faithfulness of God. He understood that all of the opposition was doomed to fail because God can’t lose. As long as you’re on God’s side, you never have to worry about losing because God can’t lose; he always wins. 

I remember when I was in seventh grade, I decided to join the chess club. I mean, we all know the chess club is what all the cool kids do in school and that even the football players wish they could be in the chess club, right? So I was fortunate enough to be in the chess club and found it to be a lot of fun. We basically just stayed after school and played chess with each other under the supervision of a teacher who sponsored the club. And the teacher would also jump in and play chess with us. But whenever it was our turn to play the teacher, we all knew what the outcome would be. The teacher was going to win. He was very good at chess and was going to beat us. The only question was how long he would play around with us and allow us to think we were making progress in the game before he moved in for the kill. But we all knew how the game was going to end. 

And likewise, we know the ending to the grand battle between God and Satan. The biblical book of Revelation tells us. And according to Revelation, Jesus wins. I was telling someone just this week that that’s a good two word summary for the entire book of Revelation. Jesus wins. A lot of people think Revelation is unbelievably complicated, and it can be tricky in some ways. But in another sense, it’s so simple that you can sum it up in those two words: Jesus wins. Jesus conquers his enemies and sets up his Kingdom here on earth. That’s how history is going to play out. And even before the events described in Revelation happen, we know that God’s mission will continue moving forward. I love how John says it in 1 John 4:4. He states that “he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” That’s speaking to Christians. “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” In other words, even though Satan will come against us with immense power and clever tactics, he’s doomed to fail in the end. He may cause setbacks, but he’s ultimately powerless to stop God. He can’t win. Just like in Nehemiah 4, God will use his people to accomplish his mission. Don’t lose sight of that. You know, from a human perspective, we may be in the midst of some fairly turbulent times here in America. Things in our society are rapidly changing in ways that make many Christians uncomfortable. I’m not sure that the number of true Christians here is decreasing, but those voicing opposition to Christianity are certainly more vocal and more influential than in the past. And yet, Nehemiah 4 reminds us that we don’t have to anxiously wring our hands wondering about the future of the gospel here in our country. We can be confident that the mission will move forward as we do what Nehemiah did and “remember the Lord, who is great and awesome.” Let’s pray.