Nehemiah 8:1-18

The Word of God has an impact on those who are exposed to the truth of Scripture.  Now that the wall was built and the people were beginning to be established in Jerusalem once again, it was vital that they receive the instruction of the Word of God.  Men simply do not know how to relate to God or be obedient to Him without the instruction of God’s Word.  Man’s heart is deceitful and will naturally sin but when it is exposed to the Word of God that heart can be convicted of sin, converted from sin and convinced to walk in a manner that is pleasing to God.  One of Satan’s greatest tactics to destroy the work of God is to keep people in ignorance of the Word of God.  We are so blessed to have it so readily available to us.  We must not neglect God’s Word and must make it the purpose of our lives to make sure that every person on the face of the earth has access to God’s Word.

THE READING OF GOD’S WORD: Ezra and the religious leaders gathered in the open streets to read the Word of God to the people who gathered there for that purpose.  They stood for hours to hear God’s Word and longed to hear more.  Ezra’s team of helpers took the reading of the Word and explained it to the people so that they could clearly understand the meaning of the words that were written.  It was a great treasure to have the Word and the people showed great reverence for the Word and a longing to be able to understand it.  Spiritual leaders must recognize that one of their main jobs is to expose their people to the Word of God and explain the Word of God to their people.  From the time of Moses to the time of Ezra, the culture, language and the people had changed dramatically.  Certainly there were many words that had stopped being used or had changed meaning or usage with the passing of time.  The same is true today so we need to make sure that we are reading the Bible faithfully, but also taking the time to make sure that we understand it correctly.

THE REJOICING IN GOD’S WORD: When the people understood the Word of God, many of them began to weep because they recognized that they had not been obedient to the commandments of the Law.  Ezra and the other leaders told the people that this was not what they wanted them to do.  They had read the Law in order to instruct the people in how to obey the Lord and not to condemn them for their ignorance of the details of the Law.  When we hear the truth we will either lament over or disobedience or rejoice because of our new found knowledge.  Ezra felt that this was a time for rejoicing over the truth and not lamenting over their disobedience that came from their ignorance of the Law.  The people were instructed to go home, eat, drink and share with those who were close to them that did not have food or drink.  Obedience to God’s Word will always lead us to worship God and to serve others.

THE RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD: The immediate desire of the people upon hearing and understanding the Law was to obey it in every sense of the Word.  They clearly understood that the Law required them to celebrate the feast of booths during the seventh month.  Since they were in the seventh month, they came to Ezra and expressed their desire to celebrate this God ordained celebration.  The Spirit of God will always move in the hearts of submissive people to respond to God’s Word with obedience.  The response of the people was pleasing to the Lord as it promoted remembering the provision of the Lord for the nation as well as their worshiping of the Lord together on this special occasion.  We must make sure that we are responding to the Word of God with obedience.  Once we know what God expects we should rejoice in that knowledge but then take action to respond in accordance with what God has allowed us to understand.