The dispensational value of Nehemiah
Nehemiah 2:20 The God of heaven Himself will make us prosper; therefore we His servants will rise up and build. But you have no portion nor right nor memorial in Jerusalem.
The book of Ezra is a history of the return of Israel’s captivity and the rebuilding of the house of God as the initiation of God’s recovery among His elect for His testimony on the earth according to His economy. The book of Nehemiah is a history of the rebuilding of the wall of the city of Jerusalem as a continual recovery among His elect for His testimony for the accomplishment of His economy.
The crucial point of the book of Nehemiah is that the city of Jerusalem was a safeguard and protection for the house of God, which was in the city. This signifies that the house of God as His dwelling and home on the earth needs His kingdom to be established as a realm to safeguard His interest on the earth for His administration, to carry out His economy. The rebuilding of the house of God typifies God’s recovery of the degraded church, and the rebuilding of the wall of the city of Jerusalem typifies God’s recovery of His kingdom. God’s building of His house and His building of His kingdom go together.
When Israel was taken into captivity for seventy years, God still had a dispensational move because of Nehemiah, who was a true overcomer; he is a pattern of someone who has dispensational value to God.
Nehemiah shows the need for us to have the proper aggressiveness in the Lord’s recovery today. The leaders of the Moabites and Ammonites were greatly displeased about Nehemiah’s seeking the good of the children of Israel; these descendants of the impure increase of Lot hated and despised the children of Israel. In relation to the mocking, despising, and reproach of these opposers, Nehemiah was very pure and aggressive, not cowardly. The aggressive ones receive help from God; like Nehemiah, the apostle Paul was allied with God and realized God’s assistance in this alliance. Nehemiah’s aggressiveness, as a virtue in his human conduct, shows that our natural capacity, ability, and virtues must pass through the cross of Christ and be brought into resurrection, into the Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God, to be useful to God in thea ccomplishing of His economy.