Nehemiah 3

Nehemiah 3
This chapter is concerned with those who responded to the call of God brought to them by Nehemiah (Chapter 2:17, 18). Had every one gone to the work, there would have been no list of names; and so the very failure of others is the occasion of bringing out the names of those who even in a small way entered upon that which was the service of God. We observe, too, that the names are given, not in the order of the prominence of the persons, nor with regard to the importance of what they did, but nevertheless in an orderly way, for tile Divine Author had before Him the one work in which all His people might be, and some of them were engaged.
The first step toward restoration, after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar ( 2 Chronicles 36:17-2117Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. 18And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. 19And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. 20And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: 21To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years. (2 Chronicles 36:17‑21)), was the building of the altar (Ezra 3:2, 32Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God. 3And they set the altar upon his bases; for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries: and they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord, even burnt offerings morning and evening. (Ezra 3:2‑3)), and the reestablishment of the system of sacrifices according to the Word of God suited for a people haying a relationship to Him, short of the knowledge of an accomplished redemption by the blood of Christ,
The glory had departed, but God was yet mindful of His people, and purposed their blessing.
In the altar and the temple, then, we have the way of approach to God, and Himself dwelling in and among His people, truths made good for the believer in Christ (See Hebrews 10:12-2512But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 16This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. 19Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21And having an high priest over the house of God; 22Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) 24And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10:12‑25); Eph. 2:20-2220And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:20‑22)),
A third step was needed,—-the practical separation of the people in their daily life front the unbelieving world, The wall of Jerusalem must be set up to enclose them as a unity, This it was that aroused the most determined opposition, as following chapters disclose.
Among those who labored, we see the high priest, Eliashib, who have become allied with Tobiah the Ammonite (chapter 13:4-5), but perhaps as now seeing the wrong he had done, and the priests and several of the rulers, but not the nobles of the Tekoites who “put not their necks to the work of the Lord;" the daughters of the rulers worked with their father (verse 12); one "earnestly" repaired the part of the wall on which he was engaged (verse 20), These 32 verses tell of what God took notice of in the work of this people according to the flesh.
Is He observing today what His children, by faith in Christ Jesus, are, or may be doing, for Him, in the way of establishing one another in holy separation from the world and its god, its politics, and its artificial pleasures?
See 1 Corinthians 15:55And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: (1 Corinthians 15:5)S, which of course is applicable to all true service for the Lord.