Remember God’s Goal | Nehemiah 11:1-12:47 | 6-3-26 | Wednesday

**Pastor Andrew Montoro** (0:03)
We're going to be in Nehemiah 11 We're in the series, A Return To The Faithful God, The Restoring, Renewing, Rebuilding, That God Wants To Do In The Lives Of His Children.
And Nehemiah chapter, we're going to try to cover Nehemiah 11 and Nehemiah 12 tonight. And as soon as you turn there, you're going to see why we're kind of, I believe we can lump this into one section because the vast majority of those two chapters are just lists of names. You go, I don't know exactly. That's your favorite part in the Bible reading, right? When you get there, but there's a purpose for that. And so let's catch just the idea. Let's read the text, then we'll pray. Nehemiah chapter 11, verse number one, the Bible says, and the rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem. The rest of the people also cast lots to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem, the holy city, and nine parts to dwell in other cities. And the people blessed all the men that willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem. Now, these are the chief of the province that dwelt in Jerusalem, but in the cities of Judah dwelt everyone in his possession in their cities to wit Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the Nethinims, and the children of Solomon's servants. And then it begins to list the different groups of priests, the different groups of Levites, the different groups of warriors, the different nobles, basically, that moved to Jerusalem or took up residence in Jerusalem to populate the city of Jerusalem. It had been left desolate. Many people had not lived there because the homes were still burned before the walls had been built up. There wasn't the protection. Now that the walls have been built up, they need to populate the city. And so people are moving into the city.
And then chapter number 12, beginning in verse number 1, now these are the priests and the Levites that went up with the Rebubal. So it goes back to the initial return. And then it brings in the list of the priests and the Levites in the orders that David had organized. And it begins putting the Levites and the priests back into their priestly orders that would be observed. Zechariah in his order offered when the angel came, Gabriel came and told him, your wife's going to have John the Baptist. There was the orders. All of that was originally dedicated by David. And here in the book of Nehemiah, as the walls have been built, they're reorganizing the orders and putting things back into place. Then verse number 27 of chapter 12, the Bible says, And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought the Levites out of their places to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgiving and with singing and with cymbals, psaltery and with harps. And the sons of the singers gathered themselves together, both out of the plain country, round about Jerusalem and from the villages of Naphthah. Yeah, that place, sorry. And also from the house of Gilgal and out of the flocks of Giba and Azmeth, Maveth and for the singers, had builded them villages round about Jerusalem. The priest and the Levites purified themselves and purified the people and the gates and the wall. And I brought the princes of Judah up upon the wall and appointed two great companies of them that gave thanks, whereof one went on the right hand upon the wall towards the dung gate and gave that where they went, verse number 38, and the other company of them gave thanks, went over against them and I after them, and half of the people upon the wall from beyond the tower of the furnaces, even unto the broad wall and from above, verse number 40 So stood the two companies of them that gave thanks in the house of God and I and half the rulers with me, the priests that were there, they sang, verse number 43 Also that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God had made them to rejoice with great joy, the wives also and children rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even a far off. And at that time were some appointed over the chambers, and it begins to talk about the tithes and the first fruits that were brought in to organize that for the priests and the Levites to have the offerings that were needed to sing, to praise, to go about the worship of the Lord. And so there's rejoicing. And so now the walls have been completed. Now we have the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem giving thanks, giving praise to God. We would say this, the rebuilding has been completed to a certain point. But I want to focus on this tonight. Just, I'm gonna try to take a thought from this. Basically, they're rejoicing, they're dedicating the walls of Jerusalem. They're repopulating the city, they're dedicating the walls of Jerusalem. That's very simple what's going on. But I want to preach this title tonight. Remember God's goal. It's not about the walls, it was about worship. It's not about the walls, it's about worship. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you tonight. Lord, I thank you for your word. Lord, I pray that even in this simple, what some might call boring passage of scripture, I pray that you would help us, Lord, to see what you're doing and see what stirs your heart and help us, Lord, tonight to learn from you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.