How Do We See the Gospel in the Book of Nehemiah?

Is your church going through a building program? If so, the odds that your pastor is preaching through the book of Nehemiah are pretty high. We pastors like to preach on this text because Nehemiah is about rebuilding from the wreckage of Babylonian invasion and exile. The people are back in the land and now they are called to rebuild. It’s an inspiring book about moving forward — especially with tangible things like a building. 

The book of Nehemiah, however, is about far more than building. Just like every other book of Scripture, it points to Jesus. Today we will discover how. 

How Do You Find the Gospel in the Old Testament?

I suppose before understanding how to find the gospel in the OT, it’d be helpful for us to define the gospel. The simplest definition is one given by JI Packer: God saves sinners. If you’d like to put a bit more meat on your gospel presentation, I use two different frameworks with four points each. The first is God—Man—Christ—Response. The second is more of a story: Creation—Fall—Redemption—Glory. 

The first presentation centers upon God’s character and how humanity fails to meet God’s holy standard, as such the judgment of God is upon us. But the good news is that Jesus Christ fixes this by fulfilling what is required through his life, death and resurrection. Our only fitting response, then, is to respond to Him in repentance and faith. When this happens, we are united to Christ and his record becomes our record. 

The second presentation centers upon the overarching story of the Bible. God lovingly created us to love Him and enjoy Him forever. We were made for rest, rule, and relationship. But we made shipwreck of this, and so rather than having the blessings of obedience we are under the curse of disobedience. Rather than having peace (rest), purpose (ruling), and healthy relationship we often experience the opposite. Ultimately, we are alienated from God. But thankfully God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to bear our curse and to fulfill what God intended for humanity. As such we now experience the blessings of Jesus’ obedience in our place. He restores the rest, rule, and relationship we were created to enjoy. Someday everything will be ultimately restored, and we will live in a new heaven and a new earth. 

We could write entire books focusing on these various themes of the gospel. But every gospel story follows this basic skeleton. No matter where you find yourself in the Old Testament (or the New Testament) you can find one of these various threads. Every place in Scripture is either telling you something about God, something about our rebellion, something about His rescue, or something about our future restoration. If you can spot this, then you can fill out the rest of the story. 

How Do You Find the Gospel in Nehemiah?

The book of Nehemiah originally was combined with Ezra into one book. It is structured around the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. We will understand the message best when we consider them together. They each follow a pattern — mission, opposition, overcoming opposition, but not exactly. 

For Nehemiah, he is given the mission to move from Persia back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem. But when he arrives, he faces opposition from all of their neighbors and some of those living within the city. Some of this opposition might be because of Nehemiah’s rejection of their help. “You have no part in Jerusalem!” was his message to them. 

It's interesting to see the difference between Nehemiah’s plan and the vision which Zechariah had. To Zechariah, a day would come when Jerusalem had no walls and people were flocking in from all the nations. But Nehemiah likes walls. He has a vision for purity and so the walls are necessary for protection. 

As the book of Nehemiah progresses, chapter 8-12 look like revival. He partners with Ezra and calls the people to spiritual renewal. They confess their sins, renew the covenant, and celebrate by once again observing the Feast of Booths. The temple is rebuilt, the community is re-centered around Torah observance, and the city walls are built. What more could you want? 

If the book ended there, we might celebrate alongside of them. But Nehemiah 13 puts a damper on our party. The book ends with Nehemiah touring the city. What he finds is that all of the work they did seems to be undone. People aren’t obeying Torah. They aren’t observing the Sabbath. The city walls have now become a marketplace — and appallingly a market open on Sabbath. 

Nehemiah rages. He’s throwing furniture and pulling out hair. After this fit of rage, the book ends with a prayer from Nehemiah. He’s frustrated at their rebellion and prays simply, “Remember me, O my God, for good.” He’s basically telling God — I did what I could, these people are rascals. Don’t chalk up their failure to me, please. I have done what I could do. 

It is kind of a depressing finish to what seemed like a revival. What a gut punch it would have been for Nehemiah to have led the people to outwardly do all the right things, but then discover it had been for naught. The problem was that the people hadn’t actually changed. Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah had simply changed structures. They were not able to change the human heart. 

This heart change, as we read from the other prophets, would require a new covenant. Jesus, and His work of redemption, is what the “thud” in Nehemiah 13 is crying out for. Real “revival” only happens when hearts are transformed. You can change structures all day (and even see some good). You can encourage people to follow the Law, obey Torah, and even institute religious celebrations. But if the heart isn’t transformed, lasting change will not be possible. 

Where Is Jesus in Nehemiah 5:14-19?

It’s one thing to connect the theme of an entire book to the gospel. It’s quite another to connect a specific passage of Scripture — and especially a relatively obscure passage — to the gospel of Jesus. But I firmly believe that every passage will point to Jesus. I hope to show you this by connecting Nehemiah 5:14-19 to the gospel. 

Here in Nehemiah 5:14-19 Nehemiah is comparing his leadership with those who go before him. He does this by comparing the way he refused luxury at the expense of his countrymen. How do we connect this theme to the gospel? 

First, we connect this with creation and the fall. In the original creation there was no flourishing at the expense of another. Adam and Eve were to keep the Garden and beautifully spread the glory of God, and they were fruitful and multiplied. Their blessings would have multiplied into blessings for others. The ground wouldn’t have rebelled. There wouldn’t have been limited resources. 

When Adam and Eve chose rebellion, it brought a curse upon the ground. It also changed the posture of their hearts. From this moment on, humanity would have a principle of self-centeredness. The presence of the leaders who didn’t fear God and thus lacked loved and consideration for their countrymen, is a result of this fallen principle. And it’s present in all of our hearts.

But grace happens. God was at work in Nehemiah’s life and it caused him to be a little different. Nehemiah did fear God. And it is here that we see some of those seeds of redemption that God promised he’d make happen. But Nehemiah ultimately failed as a leader. He couldn’t bring the people to the true promised land. And he responded to their rebellion with anger of his own. 

Yet, here as he sacrifices his own comfort for the sake of others, Nehemiah is a shadow of Christ. Nehemiah’s generosity will be expressed in full with Jesus Christ. The Son of God left all the glories of heaven in order to take upon flesh. And He didn’t merely incarnate, He would die the shameful death of a criminal. Christ in this greater Nehemiah.

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Seeking the Gospel in the Old Testament Book of Ezra
Let's Go Back to the Beginning to Find the Gospel in Genesis
Yes, We Can Still See the Gospel in Lamentations

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