Hey there! This past Sunday, I had the privilege of preaching on Nehemiah 12. (Thank you to all who prayed for this sermon!) This chapter reminds us of the story God is writing for our lives—a story that ends not in ruin, but redemption.
You can watch or listen to the sermon, or click the link below. I’ve also included the full sermon manuscript below. 🙂
May the Lord bless you through His Word!
~Blake
P.S. The sermon starts at the 23:21-minute mark.
Introduction // The Bee-Lady Story
Let’s open with a word of prayer.
Lord, God of heaven and earth, what we know not, teach us. What we have not, give us. What we are not, make us. For Christ’s sake. Amen.
We will be in Nehemiah 12 today, so if you have a Bible, you can turn there now. And as you are turning there, I will tell a quick story.
About seven years ago, on August 15th, 2018, I was walking along a path about twenty minutes from here, and I came across a bench with an elderly lady sitting on it, along with her adult daughter.
I often say hi to people when I walk past just to be friendly, but I never expect a response. Some people don’t engage, others nod, still others smile and give a quiet hello.
But this time, when I said, “Hi,” the elderly woman greeted me with an enthusiastic, “Why, hello there!”
I couldn’t help but smile at her response. I stopped and asked how her day was going, and we got to talking. Shortly into the conversation, she told me that the bench she was sitting on was a tribute to her husband, who had passed away. She said, “Today, August 15th, was his birthday.”
She then showed me the bench plaque (which she designed), which began with the words, “Bee happy.”
She told me that she and her husband had been beekeepers together for many years, and they even harvested their own honey. She even had a shirt on that day with bees on it (not live bees, but embroidered ones!)
Anyway, “bee happy” was the most fitting plaque, because the entire time we talked, this woman was smiling from ear to ear, exuding joy. She was “beeing” very happy.
So I commented, “It’s pretty amazing that you have as much joy as you do, especially on a difficult day like today. How is that?” (I specifically asked, “What makes life sweet to you?” since we were talking about honey at the time.)
She gave me two answers. The first was nonverbal: She smiled and pointed to her daughter, which made her daughter blush. But then, this woman proceeded to tell me about her hope for eternal life through faith in Christ. She said, “I can’t imagine what it would be like to believe that this life is all there is,” expressing her hope for heaven.
So, here was this woman—on her late husband’s birthday—and she still had contagious joy, because she trusted God’s promises. God’s promises allowed her to celebrate, even amid her pain.
Joy Amid Hardship
In our text today, we will see one of the biggest celebrations in the Bible—specifically, the dedication of the rebuilt walls of Jerusalem. But the circumstances in which these people were celebrating make their joy even more incredible.
Specifically, these are the same people who carried the scars of exile, the exhaustion of building the wall, and the open wounds of people currently opposing and ridiculing them.
You may remember some of the shaming remarks made against them and their work, such as the words of Tobiah and Sanballat back in Nehemiah 4: “What are those feeble Jews doing? . . . What are they building?—even a fox climbing up on this wall would cause it to fall!”
Surely, cutting words like these must have still stung in the hearts and minds of God’s people.
So, by the time we come to chapter 12, God’s people are carrying scars, exhaustion, and the burden of insults.
And yet, despite all of this hardship, they were still able to rejoice—just like the “bee happy” woman—because of God’s promises.
And our passage today will point us to three promises of God that you and I can cling to in our hardships, which can also give us cause for joy.
So, let’s dive into our text, and then we will consider each of these promises.
Nehemiah 12 – and we will start reading in verse 27 and end in verse 43.
Dedication of the Wall of Jerusalem
27 At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps and lyres.
28 The musicians also were brought together from the region around Jerusalem—from the villages of the Netaphathites,
29 from Beth Gilgal, and from the area of Geba and Azmaveth, for the musicians had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem.
30 When the priests and Levites had purified themselves ceremonially, they also purified the people, the gates and the wall.31 I (Nehemiah) had the leaders of Judah go up on top of the wall. I also assigned two large choirs to give thanks. One was to proceed on the top of the wall to the right, toward the Dung Gate.
(Skip down to verse 38)
38 The second choir proceeded in the opposite direction. I followed them on top of the wall, together with half the people—past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall,
39 over the Gate of Ephraim, the Jeshanah Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate. At the Gate of the Guard they stopped.40 The two choirs that gave thanks then took their places in the house of God; so did I, together with half the officials,
41 as well as the priests—Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah and Hananiah with their trumpets—
42 and also Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malkijah, Elam and Ezer. The choirs sang under the direction of Jezrahiah.43 And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.
Why can we rejoice, even amid the hardships in our lives?
Because God promises to…
- Remove our sin (Neh. 12:27–30)
- Redeem our suffering (Neh. 12:31–43; 13:2)
- Rewrite our story (Neh. 13; Matt. 1:21)
Let’s consider these one at a time, beginning with…
God (Promises to) Remove Our Sin (Neh. 12:27–30)
Notice again how the celebration begins in verse 30:
“When the priests and Levites had purified themselves ceremonially, they [also] purified the people, the gates and the wall.”
You’ll notice that this purification is not separate from the celebration; it’s actually the foundation of it.
At the heart of Israel’s joy was the fact that despite their sin, God had made a way for them to be cleansed and forgiven (which, at the time, was symbolized through ceremonial washings and sacrifices). In other words, their celebration was rooted in the fact that God had made a way for them to be purified and to have a right relationship with Him.
And the same is true for us.
The most fundamental reason we can have joy this morning is that God has made a way for us to be purified and forgiven through the blood of Christ. And here’s the punchline for me: Because of this purification, we can enjoy perfectly secure fellowship with God.
About a year ago, a friend told me about a time when he was struggling in his faith, and he joined a Bible study group. He had heard people sharing different struggles, and he finally willed up the courage to open up and share one of the sins he struggled with. There was a moment of silence, and then one of the group’s leaders responded, “I am so disappointed in you.”
A good reminder on what not to say when someone is vulnerable with you!
(Fortunately, my friend is all good now, and he said two leaders later apologized and helped him that night.)
But, in that moment, my friend immediately felt ashamed and unlovable. He felt like, “The only way I can be accepted is by being perfect or hiding my flaws.”
Unfortunately, as we know well, there’s no joy in relationships where we must hide to maintain the other person’s love.
The same is true in our relationship with God. It’s hard to have joy if you’re constantly afraid of disappointing God and falling out of His love—if we are not confident that we are fully accepted and purified through Christ, we will live our lives insecure and restless.
Fortunately, the good news of the gospel is that God’s love doesn’t fluctuate based on our performance.
We never need to walk on eggshells around God, because He has already seen the worst about us, but has chosen to love, purify, and bless us anyway through Christ.
He Does Not Treat Us as Our Sins Deserve
One of the most powerful images of God’s grace comes in verse 43—notice this briefly before we move onto the second point:
“On that day, they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy.”
Consider the context for a moment: The reason Israel was in exile in the first place was that they abandoned God and His commands.
And not only that, but Israel is just about to abandon God again in some major ways.
Chapter 13 is all about how Israel turned their backs on God right after making these covenant commitments in Chapter 12.
Yet, even while knowing His people had forsaken Him and were just about to forsake Him again, God still gave them great joy here in chapter 12.
It reminds me of Jesus blessing His disciples and washing their feet, even though He knew they would all abandon Him that very night (Matthew 26:31).
We often live as if God’s love is tied to our near-past and near-future performances. But time and time again in Scripture, God shows us that that’s not how He operates.
God doesn’t withhold joy from us after we’ve sinned, demanding we string together a few weeks of perfect obedience before we dare smile again. Nor does He scorn our joy today when He knows we’ll stumble tomorrow.
In fact, according to Nehemiah 12:43, God is the one who gives us joy—even while knowing our past and future sins!
I love how Psalm 103:10–12 puts it:
“He does not treat us as our sins deserve nor repay us according to our iniquities… As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
There have been times in my own life when I’ve feared the future and wondered, “What if I mess it all up? What if I flub it?” And time after time, God reminds me through His Word that Christ’s blood purifies that, too.
As Jesus said in John 15:3, “Already you are clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”
Or, as Pastor Joe Scavotto put it:
“Jesus does not demand that we clean ourselves up before coming to Him—His presence is what makes us clean.”
So, why can we have joy, even amid hardships?
First, because God removes our sins.
Second, because…
God (Promises to) Redeem Our Suffering (Neh. 12:31–43; 13:2)
Arguably, the most powerful image in the entire book of Nehemiah is this picture of the two choirs and people going up on the walls together to celebrate, sing, and dance.
Don’t miss the irony and redemption of this moment.
Remember again the comments their opposition made back in chapter 4: “What are those feeble Jews doing? . . . What are they building?—even a fox climbing up on this wall would cause it to fall!”
These walls were once a symbol of Israel’s shame and sorrow. Yet now, God’s people are dancing and singing on the very walls that once brought deep shame.
God took that very place—the site of their deepest embarrassment—and made it the center stage of their celebration. And that’s what our God does—our God turns sites of shame into scenes of celebration.
And this is not just what God did for Israel—it’s what He promises to do for us, too.
God is in the business of redeeming suffering. He takes the very places of our deepest pain, failure, and embarrassment—and in His perfect timing, turns them into stages of blessing, gratitude, and joy.
I talked to a single mom recently, who told me about when she got pregnant before she wanted to. She was filled with dread. She prayed to God, “Why? I am not ready to be a mom. I don’t want to be a mom right now. I’m too selfish. Why would You let this happen?”
But now that she’s had her daughter, she looked me in the eye and told me, “Becoming a mother is the best thing that ever happened to me. I am so thankful. There’s nothing I love more in the world than my daughter.”
What if God wants to do this for each of us? What if God wants to take the areas of our greatest shame and dread, and, one day, turn them into the very reason for our greatest celebration and joy?
I love how God’s redemption is depicted just two verses into the next chapter, in Nehemiah 13:2:
“[The Moabites] hired Balaam to call a curse down on [Israel]. Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.”
I love that phrase—“Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.”
That’s the gospel in miniature—and that’s the promise for every Christian.
At the end of every Christian’s story—no matter the hardships we walked through—we will all turn around and say of our hardships, “Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.”
The best image of this, of course, is the cross of Christ. Jesus took the greatest symbol of mockery, shame, and defeat, and He turned it into the greatest symbol of hope and joy in human history.
And that’s why we can rejoice in life—not because we will never suffer or make mistakes, but because we have a God who brings beauty from ashes—who turns curses into blessings—and promises to redeem our suffering in ways we cannot imagine or accomplish on our own.
As John Newton put it:
“We serve a gracious Master who will overrule even our mistakes to His glory and our own advantage.”
(Praise the Lord!)
This leads us to our final point.
Why can we have joy even in the midst of hardship?
Because God promises to remove our sin, redeem our suffering, and third and finally:
God (Promises to) Rewrite Our Story (Neh. 13; Matt. 1:21)
As high as the mountaintop of Nehemiah 12 reaches, the valley of Nehemiah 13 arguably sinks even lower.
After all the (seeming) progress, covenant commitments, and joyful celebration, Nehemiah 13 leaves us with a heartbreaking ending, as God’s people plunge right back into widespread rebellion and compromise.
And actually chronologically, Nehemiah 13 is how the Old Testament ends—these are the last words, chronologically! No victory. No resolution. Just failure… and 400 years of silence before the New Testament.
In fact, the final words of Nehemiah 13 are Nehemiah’s desperate, heartbroken plea:
“Remember me with favor, my God.”
And then—silence. Four hundred years when God does not speak through any prophets.
And it leaves us wondering, “Is this really how the story ends? Does it really end with silence and suffering and sin?”
But then—after centuries of waiting—we turn the page into the New Testament, and we read these words on page one, in Matthew 1:
“[Mary] will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)
Jesus is the answer to Nehemiah’s final prayer.
Jesus steps in to do what God’s people couldn’t do—from Adam and Eve to Abraham to Moses to David to Nehemiah and beyond.
Jesus didn’t let the story of Israel end as a tragedy—and He won’t let your story end as a tragedy, either.
Instead, Jesus wrote Himself into our story—taking on our sin and suffering, and providing the salvation we desperately needed.
And just as Jesus came to rewrite Israel’s story, He is coming again to rewrite our story. Revelation 21 gives us a sneak peek of our future, when Jesus says:
“Behold, I am making all things new… He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:5, 4)
I love the way Tony Merida put it:
“Nehemiah doesn’t end with happily ever after. But the Bible does.”
Because of Christ, the end of every Christian’s story is not unresolved grief, but unending joy.
Come to Jesus
Friend, this is the story God is writing—a story that doesn’t end in ruin, but in redemption. A story that leads to eternal life with Jesus.
But let me ask you: Is it your story?
Maybe today you feel stuck in Nehemiah 13—in failure, shame, or spiritual drift. Maybe you’ve tried to write your own story, only to end up empty and disappointed.
Let me invite you: Come to Jesus!
He longs to remove your sin. He’s able to redeem your suffering. And He alone can rewrite your story—far better than anything you could ask or imagine.
Will you receive Him today?
If so, I invite you to pray this with me:
Jesus, please forgive me for all the ways I’ve rebelled against You. I’ve tried to write my own story, and it’s left me empty. But today, I turn to You. Thank You for dying on the cross to remove my sin. Thank You for rising again to give me new life. Come into my life. Be my Savior, my Lord, and my greatest joy. Amen.
______________________
Watch or listen to more of Blake’s sermons here.
Blake Glosson (MDiv, Reformed Theological Seminary) is a pastoral resident at Chapelstreet Church in Geneva, Illinois. He has been published and/or republished or referred by:
- The Gospel Coalition
- Life Bible
- Crosswalk
- Eternal Perspective Ministries (Randy Alcorn)
- Challies.com/Tim Challies (here, here, and here)
- DashHouse (Darryl Dash)
- Moody Radio (here, here, and here)
- The JOY FM (here and here)
- ChurchLeaders.com
- Monergism.com
- The Aquila Report (here, here, and here)
Previously, Blake served as the director of young adults at New Covenant Bible Church in St. Charles, Illinois.
Read or watch “Hope in Times of Suffering” here.
Read “10 Ways the Sunrise Reflects Jesus” here.
Read “Do This Every Time You See or Feel the Wind” here.
Read or watch “What Jesus Does with Your Tears” here.
Watch or listen to Blake’s sermons here.
Feel free to drop a comment below with thoughts or questions!