THERE is nothing Satan tries more earnestly to accomplish than to set the people of God striving one against the other. When this is so the work of the Lord ceases.
Sometimes Satan endeavors to hinder by means of persecution, but ofttimes this only serves to give an impetus to the work. The blood of the martyrs has watered the seed of the Word of God, and the ingathering of souls is always far greater after a time of fiery persecution than before. Since the Boxer riots in China, when so many devoted men and women laid down their lives for Christ’s sake, the number of converts has far exceeded whatever was known before in the history of the Gospel in that land. Thus Satan outwits himself.
A far more effectual method of paralyzing the work of the Lord is to set the people of God at variance one with the other. Questions arise often over the most trivial matters, sometimes of a personal nature; then sides are taken, parties formed, and alienation, if not division, ensues.
Then those who a short while before had gone on happily together in worship, prayer, and service, are found in antagonism. The world looks on and takes note, yet the Christians are surprised that “the interest in the gospel” has ceased! “How does the work of the gospel prosper with you?” we asked of a Christian man recently in a town where divisions, one after another, had done their sad work. “It is heartbreaking,” was his reply, “when I knock at a door and invite the inmates to come and hear the gospel, they answer, ‘Why, somebody has just asked me to another hall in the same street!’”
We are far from saying that all divisions are wrong. There have been occasions in the past, and these may arise again in the future, when the truth of God has been assailed in such wise that the only right course is to purge oneself from the evil. False doctrine persisted in, and moral evil tolerated, necessitate separation from those who will not judge these things. True Christians may be left behind involved in the evil that has driven the others out; however sad it may be to find division necessary, it is nevertheless sometimes incumbent upon all who desire to be faithful to Christ, for he that bids “God-speed” to the evil man is “partaker of his evil deeds” (2 John 11).
But while insisting upon this, and all the more so as evil increases in the professing Church, yet must we ever be on the watch lest the flesh should burst forth amongst the people of God, lest roots of bitterness should spring up causing trouble, and thereby many be defiled (Heb. 12:15). Here we need to look diligently, and check the first symptoms of jealousy, malice, envy, and evil speaking.
“Do all things without murmurings and disputings”
“That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
“Holding forth the word of life” (Phil. 2:14-16).
When the people of God are in a right state they will
“Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27).
They may be weak and contemptible in the eyes of men, they may be scorned by the enemies of the Lord, but with God on their side victory is assured.
So it was with Nehemiah and the feeble remnant in Jerusalem. When in faith they strengthened their hands for the work, then Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem laughed them to scorn, despised them, and said, “What is this thing that ye do?” But God was on their side, and faith presses forward to the work undaunted and undismayed by all the opposition of the enemy.
“Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven he will prosper us: therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem” (Neh. 2:20).
Most instructive are the details given of the work in Nehemiah 3. The New Testament words, “to every man his work” (Mark 13:34), might well be written over this remarkable page of inspiration. As at Jerusalem in that day, so in this day in which our lot is cast, each individual in the household of faith has a work to do, and needs to do it with watching and prayer.
First and foremost in the work we find Eliashib, the high priest, and his brethren, the priests. They did not plead their priestly office in order to shirk the toil and labor of building the wall. They might have argued that it was their business to attend to the sanctuary and worship. They surely did not neglect these, but in addition are found in the forefront of the work building up the wall and setting up the gates. And of them it is fittingly added that they “sanctified” their work.
It is interesting to notice how all through this chapter it is a question of building and repairing, and not of breaking up and scattering; this is worthy of our special notice. Further, each one had his work to do. They did not interfere with one another’s work, nor waste their time faultfinding and condemning what their brethren were doing. The times were too serious, the dangers from without were too great, for those within to be crippling one another by adverse and disparaging criticism. In these days can the servants of the Lord afford to do otherwise?
The “men of Jericho” come next in order; they did not belong to Jerusalem, yet they none the less shared in the work. Of Zaccur it is simply stated that he “builded,” yet is not this to his credit through grace?
We are not told whether Hassenaah (ver. 3) had died before this glorious revival took place, or whether he was too old to take an active share, but his sons were in earnest, and entered minutely into the details of their workâbeams, doors, locks, and bars.
Others followed with special energy, for, not content with one piece (ver. 4), Meremoth undertook “another piece” (ver. 20), his effort being not to do as little, but as much as possible in the “good work.” Might not this zeal have been awakened by the way in which his neighbor Baruch “earnestly repaired” at his side? (ver. 20). Certain it is that earnestness in one spreads to others. It is interesting to notice how these two earnest workmen were found in close proximity to Eliashib, the high priest, who was the first to rise up and build, and whose work was specially noted as “sanctified.”
It would be impossible to enter into all the details of this most interesting chapter, but again we notice the zeal of the Tekoites, who also repaired “another piece” (ver. 27), even though their nobles set them such a bad example when they “put not their necks to the work of their Lord” (ver. 5). What solemn words! It was not merely the work of their brethren that they despised, but “the Work of their Lord.”
There was nothing derogatory to the dignity of any to take a share in the work, as is seen in the case of Hur, who “repaired” like the rest, even though he was “ruler of the half part of Jerusalem” (ver. 9).
The ruler of the other half part of Jerusalem, Shallum, was not behind him in zeal, and of him it is added that “his daughters” shared in the work (ver. 12).
Of the priests it is said that they repaired “every man over against his house” (ver. 28).
Their zeal was manifest at home as well as far away, a much-needed point to observe.
Meshullam, too poor to own a house, repaired “over against his chamber” (ver. 30). As with giving, so with work, “if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not” (2 Cor. 8:12). Lastly, let us notice “Hamur, the sixth son of Zalaph” (ver. 30). Why are the five passed over in silence? “Were there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine?”
We may profitably compare Romans 16. with Nehemiah 3. God takes notice of everything in connection with the service of His people, and in the coming day “every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor” (1 Cor. 15:58).
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58).
A. H. B.