A COVENANT OF ACTIVE OBEDIENCE

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on January 24, 2024 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: January 24, 2024 from Nehemiah 10:1-39

Theme: Spiritual repentance before God shows itself in active reforms of obedience.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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In our study of the second part of the Book of Nehemiah, we’ve been looking at the events that occurred after the work of rebuilding the city wall had been completed. After the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem, there needed to be a revival of the spirit of the people. And Chapters 8-10 tell us the story of that revival.

In Chapter 8, we saw the revival brought about by the preaching of the word of God. And in Chapter 9, in response to this revival, the people prayed a deep prayer of genuine repentance in the light of God’s word. And at the end of that long prayer, because they were committed to putting repentance into action, the people said,

“And because of all this,
We make a sure covenant and write it;
Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests seal it” (Nehemiah 9:38).

So now, in Chapter 10, we read the solemn covenant that the people of Jerusalem entered into, in order to devote themselves together to obedience to God’s word and to performing of the duties that they had long neglected.

This chapter illustrates a very practical spiritual lesson to us about the nature of repentance. The people of Jerusalem were impacted by the preaching of the word. But it’s not enough to be touched deeply and to be emotionally moved by the word of God. That, of course, should happen; and it’s what helps lead to full repentance. But if an emotional reaction to the word of God is all that happens, then true repentance hasn’t fully occurred. They also prayed intensely and confessed their sins. That too helps lead to full repentance. But it’s not even enough to pray a sincere prayer of repentance in response to the preaching of God’s word. If that’s all that happens, then true repentance has still not completely occurred.

Real, full, whole-hearted repentance responds to the preaching of the word, and to the prayers of sorrow, with genuine, measurable, practical, demonstrable life-transformation. Sinful conduct needs to be decisively set aside. The neglect of duties before God needs to cease. Faithful obedience needs to be resumed in actual practice. We may express the words, “I repent”, and affirm that we now call Jesus our Lord; but it must go further. As He Himself said, “why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). The word “repentance” itself means “to change one’s mind”; but a real change of mind must show itself in action. As John the Baptist put it to the people who were coming to him to be baptized, we’re to “bear fruits worthy of repentance” (Matthew 3:8).

This is illustrated to us in the way that the people of Jerusalem entered into a solemn covenant before God to put repentance into action.

* * * * * * * * * *

As you read this chapter, you discover something very interesting. This “firm covenant” (or a strong and solid agreement) was not something that the people made with God. Rather, this was a covenant that they made with each other in the sight of God, and in response to all that they had suffered because of their disobedience to God. This was an oath they made together to walk faithfully in God’s law and to hold one another accountable to keep His commandments.

Note first, then …

1. THE SIGNATORIES TO THE COVENANT (vv. 1-27).

This covenant was not just declared as a verbal agreement. They didn’t just ‘say’ it and shake hands in agreement. Instead, they wrote it down and sealed it with their signets in order to make it binding and official. We’re told of the names that were signed on to this covenant:

Now those who placed their seal on the document were:

Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah, Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, Maaziah, Bilgai, and Shemaiah. These were the priests. The Levites: Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, and Kadmiel. Their brethren: Shebaniah, Hodijah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, Micha, Rehob, Hashabiah, Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, Hodijah, Bani, and Beninu. The leaders of the people: Parosh, Pahath-Moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, Hodijah, Hashum, Bezai, Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, Ahijah, Hanan, Anan, Malluch, Harim, and Baanah (Nehemiah 1:1-27).

There are one or two on this list of 84 names that we might be able to recognize; but the persons behind most of them are unknown to us today. And yet, at the time when the people of Jerusalem witnessed this document being written and signed, this list of names would have been deeply impressive. And the categories of these individuals would have brought great seriousness to the document. We see Nehemiah the governor; and the names of leaders around him. We see the names of priests, and of Levites, and of the leaders of the people. What a group!

Think of the list of names that we find on our national Declaration of Independence. We have grown to revere those names. And the document itself bears great power and authority—even today—because of the significant names that it bears. This solemn covenant must have had that kind of power and authority. But it was not a political document. It was not a declaration of independence. Rather, it was a declaration of solemn obedience to God.

And with that in mind, consider …

2. THE SERIOUS NATURE OF THE COVENANT (vv. 28-29).

The way that the leaders had bound themselves to this covenant had a profound impact on the people. Nehemiah wrote;

Now the rest of the people—the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding—these joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes (vv. 28-29).

It may not be that every single person within the walls of the city entered into a partnership in this covenant. In fact, as we read on in Nehemiah, it’s evident that a few apparently did not do so. But it’s very clear that those who had already begun to repent agreed to be bound to it. We’re told that not only the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, and Nethinim (that is, temple workers) entered into it, but also “all those who had separated themselves from the people of the land to the Law of God”, along with their families, also did so. True commitment to God wasn’t thought to be the responsibility of the spiritual leaders only, but also of all the people of God. We’re told that they had “knowledge and understanding” of what the times required. And they very seriously entered into a “curse and an oath” to keep this covenant.

And what was it that they covenanted to do? It was to “walk in God’s Law” (that is, to obediently conform their conduct and practices to God’s law in everyday life), and “to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes.” They had neglected to obey God’s word; which was why they had suffered the loss of the land and had experienced exile in Babylon for 70 years. But they would neglect them no longer.

The people who had built the wall had defined themselves as a ‘separated’ people from the world. And as separated people, they had then become a sincerely repentant people. And as the separated and repentant people of God, they were now setting themselves—in a practical way—to faithfully ‘bear fruits worthy of repentance’.

Notice that they didn’t just make a general promise of repentance. They didn’t just say, in a vague manner, “We promise to obey God from here on out.” They set it down into specifics that could be observed and measured. As we read on, we see …

3. THE PROMISE MADE IN THE COVENANT (vv. 30-39).

The promises made in it were related to the specific things that they had been neglecting. First, we read that they made promises regarding a separation from the pagan nations. They had allowed their children to intermarry with other nations in disobedience to God. We saw how they had admitted to this disobedience in Ezra 9:1-2; and we will go on to see in Nehemiah 13:23-27 that there was even an ongoing disobedience in this area after the covenant had been formed. So, in this covenant, we read these words:

We would not give our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons … (v. 30).

To our ears today, this may sound harsh—maybe even a little ethnocentric. But we must remember that God had commanded this of the Jewish people long ago in Deuteronomy 7:3-4; because those people groups from other pagan lands would turn their hearts away from following God and would lead them to worship idols. That was, in fact, what happened. And so, the repentant people of God promised to cease allowing themselves to be turned from Him in that way.

There had also been a problem of disregarding and dishonoring the Sabbaths of God. Some of the Jewish people—along with some of the pagan nations around them—sought to carry on business and trade during the Sabbaths; and we see that this, to some degree, continued to happen even after this covenant was formed (Nehemiah 13:15-18). So, this covenant contained promises regarding the sacredness of the Sabbaths. This included a faithful observance of God’s command to allow the land to lay fallow every seventh year, for the poor of the land to glean (Exodus 23:10-11); and also, on that seventh year, to grant a release of all debts (Deuteronomy 15:1-6). The covenant stated that …

if the peoples of the land brought wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and we would forego the seventh year’s produce and the exacting of every debt (v. 31).

Their failure to respect the sabbath of God’s land was what resulted in their captivity in Babylon for 70 years. 2 Chronicles 36:21 tells us that this happened “until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate, she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.” And so the people diligently covenanted to keep the sabbaths that God had appointed.

There were also promises made regarding the support of the temple service. True repentance shows itself in the renewed devotion to the care of God’s house. The Lord had commanded that His temple and His temple work be provided for through a tax collected at the census (Exodus 30:11-16). And so;

Also we made ordinances for ourselves, to exact from ourselves yearly one-third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: for the showbread, for the regular grain offering, for the regular burnt offering of the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the set feasts; for the holy things, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God (vv. 32-33).

Even the basic supplies of the temple were promised and provided for. God had commanded that the fire be kept burning under the altar continually; and so:

We cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for bringing the wood offering into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses, at the appointed times year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God as it is written in the Law (v. 34).

Not only was the fire to be kept burning under the altar, but the offerings themselves were to be faithfully provided through the firstborn of the livestock, and through the firstfruits of the land and the harvest …

And we made ordinances to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, to the house of the Lord; to bring the firstborn of our sons and our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks, to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God; to bring the firstfruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit from all kinds of trees, the new wine and oil, to the priests, to the storerooms of the house of our God; and to bring the tithes of our land to the Levites, for the Levites should receive the tithes in all our farming communities (vv. 35-37).

There was even a promise made in this covenant that the tithes and offerings that were brought in would be responsibly received and carefully stored by the workers in the temple …

And the priest, the descendant of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes; and the Levites shall bring up a tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the rooms of the storehouse. For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine and the oil, to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary are, where the priests who minister and the gatekeepers and the singers are … (vv. 38-39a).

The spirit of these promises was summed up in the last words of verse 39;

… and we will not neglect the house of our God (v. 39b).

* * * * * * * * * *

Now; we today, who worship the God of Israel through faith in His Son Jesus Christ, live under a different dispensation of God’s grace than the people of Israel did. They were bound to carefully keep the ceremonial laws and rituals of the covenant given through Moses. We are under a new covenant in which Jesus has fulfilled for us all that the old covenant offerings and ceremonies required. But we are still bound to obedience to our Lord. And genuine repentance—in this dispensation, grace—would show itself in a renewed commitment to obedience to our Lord’s commandments, to walk in holiness, and to serve the cause of His kingdom. This would not be in order to earn God’s favor through obedience, but rather because we’re already in His favor by grace.

There’s a great story told to us in the Gospel of Luke that illustrates this to us. It’s the story of a man named Zacchaeus. He was a Jewish man who lived in Jericho. He was a chief tax collector; which meant that he had betrayed his Jewish people and had collected taxes for the Roman government that had occupied the land. He was a notorious sinner—not only in the eyes of the people, but also in his own eyes as well.

Jesus passed through Jericho one day. And Zacchaeus—who, as a short man, —climbed a tree in order to see Him. We’re told of the amazing grace of our Lord when we read,

And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house” (Luke 19:5).

Zacchaeus did so eagerly. He received Jesus into his home with great joy. Jesus showed love and compassion to him while he was still a sinner. And when Jesus came, Zacchaeus responded to the grace of God with clear, demonstrable acts of repentance. We’re told;

Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (vv. 8-10).

May we—like Zacchaeus the tax collector; and like the repentant covenanters of Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s day—demonstrate true repentance, and true faith toward Jesus, with a demonstrably transformed life.

As recipients of God’s grace through faith, let’s demonstrate our gratitude with action!

AE