“We Shall Overcome” (Nehemiah 4:1-9)

 

The Art of War

There was a man from China named Sun Tzu (544-496 BC), who was a famous war strategist and author of the Art of War. In his book the following statement is particularly famous and often quoted: “知彼知己 百戰不殆,” which means, “Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril.” This art of war applies equally when we fight a spiritual battle. When we are in a spiritual battle, we must know the enemy and know ourselves. But there is more! We must know who God is. If we know these three – the enemy, ourselves, and God, we will never be in peril but win every battle.

Know the Enemy

Then, first of all, who is our enemy? The Bible says our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but… against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph 6:12). Our battle is not against people (Sanballat and Tobiah), but against the Devil, who is much stronger and wiser than us. We must fight the battle in the right way. 

The enemy’s purpose is clear. He comes only to steal and kill and destroy us (John 10:10a). The Apostle Peter says to followers of Christ, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Pt 5:8). In the book of Nehemiah, we learn how the enemy works, particularly throughout chapter four, five and six. The first weapon is discouragement (Neh 2:19; 4:1-3). When Nehemiah and his people started rebuilding the wall in earnest, Sanballat and Tobiah mocked and ridiculed. They said, “What are those feeble Jews doing?” “That stone wall they are building – any fox going up on it would break it down!” The enemy discourages God’s people with words. The enemy’s another weapon is to cause internal confusion as well as external threats. The enemy intimidated Judah, the leading tribe (leadership), and the people of Judah began to complain out of their fear (4:10-12). Judah had three major points of complaint: (1) The workers are getting tired, (2) There are too many hindrances, and (3) The task is impossible. Those complaints are very persuasive and realistic. To make things worse, Nehemiah had to deal with internal dissension between the nobles and the poor among his people (5:1-13). The enemy attack was persistent. It was one thing after another. There was further opposition to the rebuilding – it was the slander against Nehemiah (6:1-9). The enemy was not able to compromise Nehemiah’s stand; so now they sought to misrepresent him. Nehemiah was charged with pride and self-seeking. They spread rumors and gossip. They said to Nehemiah, “Your ulterior motive is to satisfy yourself. You are rebuilding the wall to revolt and become a king!” Lastly, there was a false prophecy. Prophet Shemaiah prophesied that Nehemiah should run into the temple to save his life. We have learned there were four or five different kinds of the enemy’s tactics, but all of them had one same purpose, that is to discourage Nehemiah and his people and stop God’s work. We must remember this. Nehemiah was well aware of this. So, in 6:9 Nehemiah prayed, “But now, O God, strengthen my hands!” Let this be our prayer.

Know God

In order to win the battle, we must know the enemy. But that is just a first step. We also must know who God is. For Nehemiah, God is real and alive, mighty and awesome. Every time Nehemiah faces opposition, he doesn’t directly fight back against the enemy. Instead, he always takes that challenge to the Lord in prayer. When he first heard the devastating news that the wall was broken down and its gates were burned by fire, his first reaction was fasting and praying as well as mourning and weeping. He took it to God in prayer who is able to help and save. He started praying in this way, “O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God!” (1:5a). When the enemy intimidated Nehemiah and his people, he said to God’s people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome!” (4:14a).

When the early church Christians faced severe persecution, they were gathered together. They got together not to launch a counter attack or retaliate, but to pray together. They did not pray that God would stop the persecution. Instead, they did pray that the word of God would continue to grow and spread. In Acts 4:29-30 they prayed in one spirit, “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus!” Their prayer was answered. The word continued to spread, and the church was built up and increased in numbers.

In the middle of the challenge Nehemiah did not pray that God would stop the enemy’s attacks. Instead, he prayed that God would strengthen his and the people’s hands, so they can carry on and complete God’s work. His prayers were answered. The more the enemy intensified attacks, the more prosperous Nehemiah’s work became. (1) The enemy mocked and ridiculed; Nehemiah prayed; God unified his people to work in harmony (ch. 3). (2) The enemy was angry and made more effort to discourage Nehemiah and his people; Nehemiah prayed; God intervened and helped. So the people worked hard in one mind, and the wall was completed to half its height around the entire city (4:6). (3) The enemy became even more angry and intimated Nehemiah; Nehemiah prayed; God strengthened Nehemiah’s hands, and he completed the wall in 52 days in the shortest time possible (6:15). When we work, we work. When we pray, God works. That’s the right way to fight the battle. Our God is great and awesome. Our God is mighty to strengthen us, help us, uphold us. God is mighty to complete His great work in our lives and in our church. Do you believe this?

Know Yourself

Now we know the enemy. And we know our God. Along with this, we must know ourselves. Who are we? We are the Church. We are God’s people. We are members of God’s family. Nehemiah had such a strong God’s family identity. In the middle of the project the enemy stirred up dissension and sowed the seeds of strife among God’s people. Some of Nehemiah’s co-workers were discouraged. The nobles didn’t get involved. The poor complained. Many in Judah were bound by oath to Tobiah, the enemy (6:18). But Nehemiah had never been shaken. He firmly believed he and his people (community) were mutually bound together by a common destiny. He was tired of working, and the job seemed to be impossible to complete, but he never dreamed of going back to the city of Susa. For Nehemiah, if the people perish, he perishes. If the people prosper, he prospers. When he saw that the nobles and officials were exploiting the people, he confronted them and spoke the truth in love. Not only this, but also did Nehemiah sacrifice himself. For twelve years he refused to claim the governor’s food allowance, because the people already carried a heavy burden (5:18). After the completion of the wall, Nehemiah and the leaders volunteered to remain in the city of Jerusalem. At that time, the city of Jerusalem was a militarily vulnerable and dying urban area. So they had to defend the city and carry out the redevelopment at great inconvenience (11:1-24). But again, Nehemiah was willing to sacrifice himself for his people, God’s people.

We, as a church, need this sense of community solidarity that binds us together in a common destiny. We are members of God’s family. When we get into a family, in other words, when we are born or adopted into it, we don’t have the right to choose our family members. We don’t choose who will be my father or my sister. Among the family members, there might be a difficult uncle, an emotionally unhealthy aunt, or an immature older brother. But no matter who they are, we are still family. We are still bound together. In the same way, the church is God’s family. We don’t choose who will be my church family members. Once we become a member in the family of God, we’re in! We belong to each other. We are bound together by a common destiny. We are united and will be eternally united with each other by the blood of Christ. The church is “eternal fellowship community.” If the church, the body of Christ, perishes, I perish. If the church prospers, I prosper. When we have this Christian “family” identity, the enemy cannot easily break the unity of the church.

We Shall Overcome

Winston Churchill once delivered the following speech during World War II:

“We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end… We shall defend our island, whatever the cost. We shall fight on the beaches; we shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.”

I would like to paraphrase him to give us words of encouragement as we fight our spiritual battle and move forward:

“We shall not stop or give up. We shall go on to the end. We shall defend our church, whatever the cost. We shall pray in the morning. We shall pray in the night. We shall pray in our prayer closet. We shall pray together in the church. We shall watch over one another in love. We shall build each other up. We shall never stop building up the church.”

Jesus said, “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18). We fight from victory, not for victory. We shall overcome.