Nehemiah 10-12: Commit and Rejoice While Waiting for the King

Introduction

Every week when he comes to worship, Jonty Leggett remembers what God has done for him: he is forgiven, washed clean, and back in relationship with his Creator, who has become his Father. He finds there not strangers from the neighborhood, but his brothers and sisters. He has a hope beyond death and an inheritance that will never fade. "None of it did I earn. Everything is a gift from God."

A school chaplain and a member of Vine Church in Surry Hills (Sydney), he preaches that evening in a series on the book of Nehemiah. He asks a question every believer runs into: I look back at what God has done, I look ahead to the day my King returns. But what do I do in between?

For him, Nehemiah 10, 11 and 12 answer that question. The people give three responses: a commitment promised, a commitment lived out, and great joy.

Message Outline

1. Between What God Has Done and the King Who Is Coming

So far, the whole book of Nehemiah tells of God's goodness: the people have come back to the land, the temple is rebuilt, the wall too, and the law has been read. The preacher points out that God has been faithful to them "for 1,600 years."
Yet just before the text, the people confess: "Behold, we are servants this day! As for the land that you gave to our fathers, behold, we are servants in it" (Nehemiah 9:36). They are still under a foreign king, Artaxerxes.
One piece of the puzzle is missing: they are waiting for their king. Like us, who have received so many blessings and are waiting for Jesus to return, the day when everything will be put right.

2. A Commitment Promised (Chapter 10)

The people have just repented in chapter 9. "Because of all this we make a covenant and write it" (Nehemiah 9:38). This isn't a vague "I think I'll live for him": it is almost a contract.
Who commits? The priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and then everyone: women, sons, daughters, "everyone who had knowledge and understanding" (Nehemiah 10:28). The only condition: understand what God has done for you.
What do they commit to? To put into practice "all the commandments of Yahweh our Lord" (Nehemiah 10:29). No picking and choosing. They know where they come from: it is God, not they, who brought them back from exile, who made it possible to rebuild the temple and the wall, who paid for it all.
The preacher sums it up with an English proverb: "Beggars can't be choosers." Like Israel, we are beggars. It is not for us to set the terms of the relationship.
He warns against a "Marie Kondo Christianity." To declutter a wardrobe, she advises picking up each garment and asking: "Does this spark joy?" If not, it goes in the bin. The danger is reading the Bible that way and turning the page whenever a passage doesn't appeal to us.

3. "We Will Not Neglect the House of Our God"

In the end of chapter 10 (verses 32 to 39), you would expect spiritual commitments. Instead you find livestock, oil, bread, wood, tithes. The preacher notes that the phrase "the house of our God" comes up seven times in eight verses.
He offers an image: you are on one side of a river, someone you love is on the other. Someone builds a bridge. The bridge solves the problem, and it is the bridge you trust to get across.
What separated Israel from God was sin: not a few arbitrary rules broken, but a rebellion that had broken the relationship. The temple was the place where sin was atoned for. To commit to the house of God was to commit to what restored the relationship.
We don't have a temple. We have something far greater: Jesus. He is our temple, our sacrifice, our great high priest. "Committing to God is not first about following laws and rules. It is committing to a relationship," with our eyes fixed on the one who makes it possible.
The last verse of the chapter says: "We will not neglect the house of our God" (Nehemiah 10:39). For the church today, the preacher translates: we will not neglect Jesus.

4. A Commitment Lived Out (Chapter 11)

Why rebuild the wall? Nehemiah said it: "Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we won't be a reproach" (Nehemiah 2:17). The book is not first about rebuilding a wall, but about rebuilding a people. When God's people are no longer a reproach, God is glorified.
The rest of Israel settled "in all the cities of Judah, everyone in his inheritance" (Nehemiah 11:20). The preacher imagines families rediscovering, after 70 years of exile, the places in the stories their grandparents told.
Then lots were cast so that "one out of ten" would go and live in Jerusalem (Nehemiah 11:1). Leaving a peaceful life in the countryside for the city meant going where the enemy strikes first. It was a move from comfort to conflict.
"The people blessed all the men who willingly offered themselves to dwell in Jerusalem" (Nehemiah 11:2). Whether the volunteers were those chosen by lot or those who made up the numbers, people made a costly choice so that God would be glorified, and they were honored.
The preacher recalls a church weekend where members from different congregations shared stories of costly choices: a woman who keeps opening her home, sometimes at great expense, so that everyone feels like family; an IT engineer who could have lived comfortably and instead is stepping into ministry; a woman who put her skills at the service of the church council at the cost of relationships in her family and among her friends; a man who told how he forgave his family. "Ordinary people making extraordinary sacrifices for the glory of God."
Like Israel, he says, we should honor them, celebrate them and join them. "I wonder how different your life would be if you valued God's glory more than your own comfort."

5. A Joy You Can Hear from Far Away (Chapter 12)

Chapter 12 opens with another list of names, including a few from before the exile. The message: this worship is not improvised, it is the legitimate worship God prescribed.
For the dedication of the wall, the Levites and singers are gathered from all the cities and villages (Nehemiah 12:27). Everyone is there.
Nehemiah places two great choirs on the wall. The preacher notes that the Hebrew word literally means a thanksgiving group. One group heads south toward the Dung Gate, followed by Ezra; the other heads north. They meet at the house of God.
He imagines Nehemiah smiling as he wrote these lines. A few chapters earlier, Tobiah the Ammonite had mocked: "Even if a fox climbs up on what they build, he will break down their stone wall!" (Nehemiah 4:3). Now two whole choirs are walking on it, praising God.
The high point of the book: "They offered great sacrifices that day, and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy; and the women and the children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even far away" (Nehemiah 12:43).

6. A Joy That Comes from the Savior, Not from Circumstances

Why are they rejoicing? Because God had given them great cause for joy. Some gave up their life in the countryside, and they are still under foreign rule. But God has brought them from death to life. "Their joy doesn't come from their circumstances. It comes from their Savior."
The preacher speaks to those who are exploring the faith: Christians are not carefree people who smile while ignoring reality. Some live with unchosen singleness, an unhappy marriage, unemployment, an impossible boss, money or family worries, a chronic illness, a loss.
This verse reminds us that we still have a reason to rejoice: "We were dead, he made us alive. We were guilty, he forgave us. We were far from God, he brought us near. We were slaves, he made us sons and daughters."
On the mornings when all this feels unreal, where do we look? To the cross, where all of this becomes reality.
He confesses that he needs constant reminders of God's goodness. On the days when he can't sing these truths, he needs his church, his "thanksgiving choir," to sing them for him, with him and to him, until he can pick them up again.
"The women and the children also rejoiced": Nehemiah could have left that sentence out. He wants us to know that everyone is included.
The joy spills out of the temple and is heard far away. The people are no longer a reproach, they become a light to the nations. The preacher admits that his own joy is mostly heard at the office on Monday, when Arsenal have won. He wonders what would become of his friendships and his witness if the joy of what God has done for him were what could be heard from far away.

7. While Waiting for the King

For Israel, the picture is almost complete: the land, the Word, repentance, commitment, joy. The king is still missing.
We too are waiting for our King. What do we do now? Commit ourselves again to his cause, rejoice in what he has done, and wait for the day of his return.
On that day, we won't just have one more reason to rejoice: our joy will be complete, because we will rejoice in the presence of our King.

Key Takeaways

Between what God has done and the return of Jesus, the believer's response is threefold: commit, live out that commitment, and rejoice.
We are beggars of grace: we don't sort through God's Word according to what we like.
Commitment to God is first of all commitment to a relationship, with our eyes fixed on Jesus, our temple and our sacrifice.
God honors costly choices made for his glory, and the church is called to recognize them and join in.
Our deepest joy comes not from our circumstances but from our Savior, and it is meant to be heard from far away.

Personal Application

Are there passages of the Bible that you "set aside" because they don't spark joy in you?
Concretely, what does "I will not neglect Jesus" mean for you this week?
What costly choice might God be asking you to make for his glory rather than for your comfort?
Who in your church is making quiet sacrifices that you could honor and encourage?
What does your joy speak about most around you? What would change if what God has done for you "was heard from far away"?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What do Nehemiah 10 to 12 teach us about the Christian life?

For Jonty, these chapters answer a simple question: how do we respond to everything God has done for us while we wait for our King? The people respond in three ways: a commitment promised in chapter 10, a commitment lived out in chapter 11, and great joy in chapter 12.

Why does Nehemiah 10 talk so much about the house of God?

The temple was the place where sin was atoned for, the place that made a relationship with God possible. To commit to the house of God was to commit to what solved the problem. For us, the preacher explains, that place is a person: Jesus, our temple, our sacrifice and our great high priest.

Where does the joy in Nehemiah 12:43 come from?

The verse says that God had given them great cause for joy. The people were still under foreign rule, but God had brought them from death to life. Our deepest joy comes not from our circumstances, it comes from our Savior.