My sermon notes for Wednesday night, May 4th. Remember, these are my personal study notes and not a manuscript of the sermon. They are provided as an outline each week for our Tabernacle Church family. The church provides a live stream of the service each Wednesday at 6:30 on Facebook. We also provide the services through YouTube. You can find Sermon Notes, Family Devotional Guides, Prayer List, and other resources at our Church Website.
INTRODUCTION
A great site providing introduction to the book of Nehemiah
ESV Global Study Bible – Intro to Nehemiah
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
1140 BC
- God brought the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery
- If they broke the covenant, they would be slaves once again (Jeremiah 2:14-15)
722 BC
- Assyrians take northern Kingdom
- 10 tribes were scattered and intermarried with Assyrians or left.
586 BC – Jerusalem Falls to Babylonians
- Nebuchadnezzar was ruler
- Daniel to Babylon
538 BC – Persians defeat Babylonians
- Cyrus was ruler
- Allowed conquered subjects to return to their homelands
- 2 Chronicles 36:7 – Was allowed to take back possessions taken from Temple.
- Ezra 1-4
- Rebuilding of temple
522 BC
- Darius is ruler
- Greeks defeat Persians at Marathon
- Haggai/Zechariah encouragement to build the Temple
- Temple completed
486 BC
- Xerxes is ruler
- Esther is chosen to be queen (479 BC)
465 BC
- Artaxerxes is ruler
- Nehemiah is cupbearer
445 BC
- Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem to build the wall.
THOUGHTS
- Where Ezra deals with the religious restoration, Nehemiah is concerned with the political and geographical
- Both are concerned with the restoration of Israel.
- God uses both for His Glory!
- Nehemiah 1-7 is the restoration of the wall
- Nehemiah 8-13 is the restoration of the people
KEY VERSES
Nehemiah 6:15–16 – So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. (ESV)
Nehemiah 8:8 – They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. (ESV)
KEY THEMES
Nehemiah’s Trust in God
- His obedience to God’s leading in His life
- Coming before the King
- Taking on such a task…finishing the task
- Nehemiah 7:5
Nehemiah’s Perseverance
- Nehemiah faced continuous opposition, disappointments, and setbacks, yet he continued with the task
Nehemiah’s Devotion to the Word of God
- The spiritual revival came in response to Ezra’s reading of “the Book of the Law of Moses” (Nehemiah 8:1-13)
- Reading, Explaining, Understanding, Doing the Word (the will of God)