The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace. Nehemiah 1:1
The book of Nehemiah begins with this good man serving as the king’s cupbearer in the Persian capital, and ends with him straightening out the errors surrounding the temple worship in Jerusalem. In between those events is a massive construction project in which Nehemiah supervises the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. It was the sorry tale of broken down walls that inspired Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem to rebuild them. Until those walls were up, the people were not safe and the temple worship suffered badly. We need walls like that today.
Walls are actually unpopular these days. Tear down the walls that divide us, say the religious leaders around us. Last year, for example, King Charles hosted a Moslem Ramadan breakfast at Windsor Castle in a move hailed as promoting harmony and diversity. But such dangerous moves merely provide openings for enemies to exploit and create havoc. Nehemiah had constant battles with opponents of his wall project before it was completed. And we will have opponents today if we maintain the walls that we need.
Just as the walls of Jerusalem were to keep the people safe, we need walls to keep those in our Assemblies safe from false teachers, misleading doctrines, and spiritual weakness. Although the responsibility of the Assembly oversight, it is also essential for all Assembly members to support those walls. Precious truths that godly saints treasured a century ago are being watered down or tossed aside in some places today. Bibles that are based on corrupted texts and that erode divine principles are being read by many Christians. Our worship, the most important element of our personal and Assembly lives, is losing its reverence and power.
The walls of truth and godliness are critical. Don’t hesitate to build and maintain them. -Jim MacIntosh
Here is the link to the video for this message: https://youtu.be/K1wVdNV6mUo