Speaker 1: 0:03

It is great to be worshiping with you this morning. My name is Dwight, I am one of the pastors here at Westtown Church and as a congregation we've been going through the book of Nehemiah over the last several weeks. Nehemiah was a man who lived some 450 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, and God used him to help the people of Israel who had been taken away in captivity but were now resettling in their homeland, to rebuild the walls around the city of Jerusalem. But he was not content to stop there. He also wanted to be used as of God to help rebuild the hearts of the people. And so, as Westtown is going through its own building project of rebuilding a bridge, we thought the tie would be great, not only as we focus on that topic, but to use that not as a means to distract us from our walk with Christ, but actually to move us in that direction. And so we come to a pivotal point in the book of Nehemiah, in chapter 8, where Nehemiah, who has been the leader at this point, begins to recede into the background and Ezra, the scribe who had led a prior return to the Promised Land, comes to the foreground. Now a scribe in the Israelite times was an educated member of society whose job was to know the scriptures, to teach them and to copy them.

Speaker 1: 1:29

Now, the importance of copying the scriptures accurately is seen in a story told in Reader's Digest a number of years ago about a young priest who was graduating from seminary and he was very gifted in languages, and so he was given the assignment of going to a monastery where they were copying not the scriptures but the ancient traditions of the church. And so it was with great eagerness and anticipation he took this assignment, and when he got there he was in a room with all the other scribes. They're sitting cross-legged on the floor and they're copying the ancient teachings of the church. And he's very troubled because he is finding that what they are copying are other copies and they're not working from the original. So he goes to the head monk of the monastery and he communicates his concern, and the monk says you know, we've really never had a problem here. We're all very careful, we're very accurate, but you know, little quality control is a good thing. So I'm going to go down into the main vaults and I'm going to bring them up and we can start copying from them. So the young man is waiting, he's waiting and he's waiting for the head monk and he's not coming and he's getting concerned. So he goes down into the basement of the monastery and as he is approaching he's hearing these loud wails coming from off into distance. So he goes running and he comes into a room and he sees them on scene with his hands on the wall and he's banging his head against the wall and he's saying they forgot the R, they forgot the R, they forgot the R. The young man is so confused and he's looking inquisitively at the monk and he turns to the young man and he says the word is celebrate. So the work of a scribe is very important. And we see Nehemiah excuse me, we see Ezra leading the people in a proper understanding of God's word. One of the beautiful things in chapter eight is how we see the people reading and responding to the word of God, and I believe it can be very instructive for us to learn how we can gain more from our time and God's word. So let me read for you from Nehemiah, chapter eight All the people gathered as one man into the square before the water gate and they told Ezra, the scribe, to bring the book of the law of Moses and the law and that the Lord had commanded Israel.

Speaker 1: 4:13

So Ezra, the priest, brought the law before the assembly both men and women and all who could understand what they heard on the first day of the seventh month, and he read from it, facing the square before the water gate, from early morning until midday, and the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand, and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. And Ezra, the scribe, stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose, and beside him stood Matthew, shema, ananiah, uriah, hilkiah and Meassiah on the right, and Padahya, meshayel, mulkidjah, hashim, hashbadana, zachariah and Meshallum on his left hand. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it, all the people stood and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered Amen and Amen, lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also, jeshua, bani Sherabiah, jem and Akub, shabbathai, hodaia, meassia, kalita, azariah, jazzabad, hanan and Palaia, the Levites helped the people to understand the law. While the people remained in their places, they read from the book, from the law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense so that the people understood the reading. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra, the priest and the scribe, and the Levites, who taught the people, said to all the people this day is holy to the Lord, your God, do not mourn or weep. For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Lord. Then he said to them Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord, and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites calmed all the people, saying Be quiet, for this day is holy, do not be grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

Speaker 1: 6:22

On the second day, the heads of fathers' houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the law, and they found it written in the law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the Feast of the Seventh Month and they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and, in Jerusalem, go out to the hills and bring branches of all of wild olive, myrtle, palm and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written. So the people went out and brought them and they made booths for themselves, each on his roof and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God and in the square of the Watergate and the square of the gate of Ephraim, and all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in booths For from the days of Jeshua, the Son of Nun, to the day that the people of Israel had not done so, and there was very great rejoicing and day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the book of the law and they kept the Feast seven days and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the rule. So as we look at this extraordinary experience in the life of the people of Israel, where they, after a long period of time of not having access to the scriptures as a result of having been into captivity, and now resettling into the land, they are able to hear the reading of the law of God and as we see them engage, we are instructed into how we should also read God's word. And the first thing that we see is that when we read the Bible, we should read with esteem. In other words, we should value the scriptures, we should honor them, we should hold them in high regard.

Speaker 1: 8:12

The writer of Psalm 119, verse 72, says the law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. That is not hyperbole. It is a recognition of what the scriptures are. They are the very word of God spoken to us and for us. So how do we see the people exercising this sense of value or esteem for the word of God? Well, we see in verse one that they desire God's word. They're the ones who initiate its reading. We see that they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses. Reminds us of what Jesus told his disciples when he was rebuffing the temptations of the enemy. He said man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Father. We must recognize that just as important as food and drink is for us to sustain our physical lives, that God's word is fundamentally essential to sustain our spiritual lives.

Speaker 1: 9:28

Also, the people diligently and attentively listen to the scriptures and they eagerly seek to understand them. Verse three we read how Ezra is reading from it, facing the square before the water gate, one of the gates on the walls, from the early morning until midday. You imagine hours of reading the word and in the presence of the men and women and those who can understand. And in the years of all, the people were attentive to the book of the law. They were being very diligent and receiving the word and very attentive to it, and they were having the Levites and others come and communicate its meaning to people so that they could understand. They highly respected the scriptures and they regarded them as the word of God. Verse five we hear how Ezra gets up on this platform and he begins to read and all of the people stand up. Why, well, they're standing up in respect. They are recognizing that this is God's word to them.

Speaker 1: 10:37

Now, it is very common for people to struggle right here at this point, there are many individuals who will say come on, you really believe that in the Bible, god is making himself known to us. You believe that God has communicated to us through it, and a book that was written hundreds thousands of years ago can have any relevance for us today. And throughout time there have been these recurring controversies surrounding the Bible that arise, where people say that you know it wasn't especially the Gospels. I'm going to focus my attention here on the Gospels because that's going to play an important role in a few moments. But people will say you know the Gospels Matthew, mark, luke and John. They weren't written until hundreds of years after Jesus died and rose again, and the reason why they were written is because the established church was trying to push a particular viewpoint and to get the people to knuckle under their authority, and so it's full of all kinds of differences and contradictions and it's really unreliable. Well, is that true? I am only going to be able to touch on one facet of this whole discussion and a sermon like this. I highly commend to you Tim Keller's book the Reason for God. If you would like to delve into this more fully, and if you would really like to get into this topic, I recommend to you the book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses written by Richard Bacham.

Speaker 1: 12:15

But let's take a look at this particular criticism of the Gospels itself, where people are saying that it's just legend, it's myth, written hundreds of years after Jesus to try to give meaning to what Jesus was about in the Gospels. And a lot of this arose in the 18th and 19th century from people who had the mindset that miracles just don't happen and if God does exist, he doesn't penetrate our realm of existence. We're just sort of left to natural causes. And so then, when they come across something like a miracle or something spectacular, they say well, that couldn't actually be about the historical Jesus, because those things didn't really happen. And they're left with about 20% of the material of the Gospels and they say from it this is where we find the real Jesus.

Speaker 1: 13:08

Well, does that really hold up? I mean, does the logic of that make sense? Well, the time that the Gospels were written is far too early for it to be considered legend. And by that I mean that the Gospels were not written hundreds of years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Despite what you might hear, the majority of scholarship For those that believe that the Bible is a word of God and scholars who don't the majority will say that the Gospels were written within 40 to 60 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, and Paul's letters were written between 15 to 25 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. So what does that mean? Well, what that means is that the Gospels were written far too early because people who observed those events were still living, whether they were supporters or opponents of Christianity, and they would be able to say no, no, no, though those things didn't happen. This is what really happened, but we don't find that taking place.

Speaker 1: 14:24

Also, the writings of the Gospel are far too unflattering in order to be considered legend. Now think about it. If you are writing with the intention of trying to get people to follow your religion, or the religion that you're creating, as is alleged by some, would you have the hero die a criminal's death upon a cross and, in his anguished, cry out my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Would you portray the pillars of the church, the apostles, as people who are sometimes petty and jealous and, let's be honest, sometimes they're downright daft? So what benefit would it be, if you're trying to get people to follow your religion, to put these kind of things in there? And finally, the Gospels themselves are far too detailed in order to be considered a legend or fable. Now, in our day, if you're writing fiction, you include a lot of detail in order to give the appearance of realism. That's not how fiction was written in the ancient world. In fact, the presence of detail dates, places, names, scenery, so on and so forth speak to the fact that the Gospels are not legend. They're a record of the life and the teaching of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1: 16:03

Now, in our story, at the beginning of the scribe who makes a mistake somewhere along the way, when we say that the Bible is without error and given to us by God as he influenced the writers, we're talking about the original writings. Over time, as they have been transcribed, they have been marvelously preserved. We'll get to that in a second. But can there be errors? Sure there can. Most of them are very insignificant. None of them touch upon any major controversy of doctrine of the Christian faith, and we have great testimony.

Speaker 1: 16:43

We have many, many manuscripts of the New Testament writings. In fact, there are over 5,800 manuscript copies. Now, that doesn't mean we have full copies of the New Testament. Some of them are just pieces and fragments. But it's highly attested to, and when it happens in the far west of the empire and the far east of the empire, and they agree that's not a sign of conspiracy. It's a sign that they've all descended from the same original copy, and so we have great confidence in the accuracy of the Scriptures there. For instance, the 5,800 manuscript pieces that we have of the New Testament, over 2,600 copies of the Gospels. Compare that to other ancient writings the Homer's, the Iliad, maybe 650. There are.

Speaker 1: 17:42

The writings of scripture are among the most, if not the most, highly attested documents from antiquity and we can rely upon them as the word of God and we can esteem the scriptures as God's revelation to us. So you should read not only with esteem you come to the word of God, recognizing that God is speaking to you through it, but you also come, you read, to engage. We have a beautiful description here of, in verse six, that, as we're blessed, the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered amen, amen, lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads and worshiped with the Lord with their faces to the ground. Note the people's reaction here when they hear and understand the word of God. It leads them to pray, it leads them to worship, it leads them to engage with the living God who is making himself known to them. Through the scriptures In the Bible, god reveals himself to us so that we might know him, that we might love him, that we might relate to him. It's not just a book to read to make us ourselves feel good, or to feel challenged and set aside. It is something that leads us into relationship with God himself.

Speaker 1: 19:11

Now, in verses 14 to 18, they describe how the people, upon hearing the law of God, see that they're required to observe this thing called the Feast of Booths. Sometimes it's referred to, in some translations, as the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of In Gathering. And it mentions in verse 17 that not since the time of Joshua had the Feast of Booths been observed. Now it had been observed. It had not been observed as completely and fully as it is at this time. So what's the Feast of Booths and what relevance is it?

Speaker 1: 19:49

Well, it was an eight day feast that occurred beginning the 15th day of the seventh month, actually around the time of our September and October, and it occurred five days after the day of Atonement, and it was a festival that commemorated the Israelite's journey in the wilderness after God rescued them from bondage and the land of Egypt. You might remember. They were supposed to go up into the Promised Land. They rebelled against the instructions of God and the Lord had them wander in the wilderness, living in temporary dwellings from place to place for 40 years. And so this feast commemorates not only that time in the wilderness but it marvelously celebrates how God preserved them through that time, and in particular, it emphasizes two events. You might imagine that, wandering around in the desert, people got hungry, so God provided manna for them very miraculously, this bread that they gathered every morning, and then, another time, when they were thirsty, god commanded Moses to strike the rock with his staff and water came forth from the rock. Now all of those things are being commemorated at the time of the Feast of Booths, and there are two ceremonies in particular that occur Now. These aren't outlined in the Old Testament. After the Israelite's return from exile. This feast was celebrated greatly and a lot was added to it. That's not in the Bible, but it provides from very helpful context for us when we understand Jesus' ministry in the New Testament. And those two ceremonies were the lighting of the torches and the pouring out of the water, and we'll get to that in just a minute. So let's start with the pouring out of the water.

Speaker 1: 21:47

On the Feast of Booths, the Israelite people would form these things called lulabs, and what they were? They were branches of Myrtle and Willow, if you will, and they were bound together by a palm frond and they would put that in their right hand and as they would shake that and they would carry a citron, a citrus fruit, in their left hand. And so what would happen? On each day of the Feast of Booths, the priest would leave the city and go to the pool of Siloam and he would get a gold pitcher. And as they were walking along, they would be singing Psalms of the hell, all shaking their lulabs, waving their citrons, and the priest would take the pitcher and he would gather water from the pool of Siloam while the people quoted and rejoicing from Isaiah, chapter 12, verse three, that says with joy, you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And then the people would make them their way back. They would enter the city through the water gate, they would enter into the temple. The priest would walk around the altar one time, they would ascend the platform to the altar and they would lift up the pitcher and they would pour it out over the altar. Now, on the seventh day, they walk around seven times. We'll get to that in just a second.

Speaker 1: 23:13

So Let me ask you, other than his crucifixion and his resurrection from the dead, what do you think was the most dramatic, the most gutsy thing that Jesus did in his ministry? Some people may say well, jesus fashioned a whip with his own hand and he drove out the money changers out of the temple, so on and so forth. I think the most dramatic thing that Jesus did, beyond the crucifixion and the resurrection, is recorded for us in John chapter 6, through John chapter 8, and it all centers around the Feast of Booths. In John chapter 7, it mentions particularly the Feast of Booths. In chapter 6, jesus feeds the 5,000, and he's talking to the people and he makes a very controversial statement to them. He says to them that the Father provided you with manna in the desert, but he goes on to tell them I am the bread who has come down out of heaven. Jesus is declaring to them that he is the bread of life and that is going to point to the ceremony that relates to Jesus fulfilling the manna.

Speaker 1: 24:35

Then we come to chapter 7. We have the Israelites observing the Feast of Booths, they're gathered in the temple it's the last day of the Feast they gather up the water out of their pitchers, they ascend into the temple, they walk around seven times around the altar and as the priest comes up with the pitcher of water, another priest meets him with a pitcher of wine and they hold it up and the people yell higher, higher. And so they lift up the pitcher and, for dramatic effect, just before they empty out the water over the altar, a hush falls over, and many Bible scholars believe that it's that precise moment, when silence filled the temple in anticipation of the water being poured out on the altar, that Jesus cries out if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow living water. What a courageous, what a dramatic and hopeful declaration that Jesus makes at this point. So we see how Jesus is fulfilling the promise of manna, god feeding his people. He is the bread of life. We see Jesus declaring that if anyone is thirsty, that they should come and drink to him.

Speaker 1: 26:08

But then in John, chapter eight and verses 12 through 20, we have another event that I believe happened the day after the Feast of Tabernacles concluded. We don't have any time reference. Really it doesn't matter. But what is happening here in John chapter eight is related to that first ceremony that I mentioned, the lighting of the torches or the lighting of the lamps. And during the Feast of Booths, in the largest part of the temple and the court of the women, there were these enormous candle obrers that held 65 liters of oil. Each and each day the priests would fill up these big candle obrers with oil and they would go and they would light these torches, and history tells us that it not only lit up the temple brightly, but the entire city of Jerusalem was filled with light.

Speaker 1: 27:06

So then we read in John chapter eight, verse 12, as Jesus is in the court of the women and in the temple with these extinguished lamps stands that are there, jesus declares I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life". Now, you see, associated with the feast of booths that the Israelites are celebrating at the time of Nehemiah, jesus fulfills, he lets us know that what our hearts long for in terms of satisfaction in life and meaning and purpose are not to be found in the good or bad pursuits that we often go after so that we might feel fulfilled, but they are to be found in him, who is the bread of life, who is the water of life and who is the light of the world, representing the shekinah glory of God, describing God's presence, his protection and his guidance in life. This is the God that we come to when we read the scriptures. This is the God that we engage with and we relate to, and we say that, lord, you are my all and all. Speak to me, lord, I desire to hear through your word. Finally and I'm just gonna mention this very briefly because we're gonna be looking at this in future weeks we read with esteem, we read to engage, but we also read to change.

Speaker 1: 28:44

Many years ago, a friend gave me my first study Bible and in the front of that study Bible he wrote Dwight, bible study is never over until it's applied to your life, and that is exactly right. We don't just casually read scripture and set it aside. James compares it to a person who goes and looks in a mirror and then walks away and forgets what he or she looks like. No, when we come to scripture, god is not only showing us himself. He's showing us who we are. He's showing us how incredibly weak and flawed and broken we are, but how we can be fully satisfied in him and through the power of his word, through the spirit, that we can change Old dogs. Folks can learn new tricks through the power of the spirit of God. And so in verses 10, 12 and 17, we see the people who are responding to the word, both intellectually. They want to understand, they respond to the word emotionally. They're weeping, they're rejoicing. They respond with their wills and their lives as they begin to follow the commands of God. And when we read the scriptures, it should impact us intellectually, emotionally, volitionally in our wills. That ultimately results in change in our behavior.

Speaker 1: 30:12

Paul says in Romans, chapter 12, in view of God's mercy, I urge you, brothers and sisters, to offer your life as living sacrifices. That's your acceptable act of worship, pleasing to the Lord. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It is through the scriptures that we find the wisdom, the God and the power to bring about great change within our lives. So what about your Bible reading? What should this make all the difference for you?

Speaker 1: 30:46

Well, maybe you're at a place in life right now where you think man, I'm just not feeling it. I just don't have the desire to read the Bible. Where do you begin? Begin praying that God would give you a hunger and a thirst for him and righteousness. You can say to Lord Lord, I know I'm not where I'm supposed to be. I need help. Will you give me the desire and then begin to act upon that in faith? Pick up your Bible, begin to read and trust that God is going to meet you in that encounter. In the scriptures. You might need a place to start. Westtown is going through a Bible reading program. You can get on our website. You can download it. You can find a plethora of Bible reading plans online. There are all kinds of resources that we can use. What if you are hungry? What if you're reading but you're not feeling fulfilled in that reading?

Speaker 1: 31:49

I think these uncomfortable times that come in our spiritual lives are actually God calling us to go deeper. God is wanting us to dig into his word. He wants us to understand it more fully, like the Israelites in Nehemiah, chapter eight. He wants us to gather into community and share the word of God with each other and help us to understand it and grow in it, and there are many ways that we can do that as well. And finally, maybe you're reading, maybe you're understanding May God give you the strength, not in yourself, but as you rely upon the spirit, that you might begin to live it more fully, more joyfully, bearing the image of Christ and the fruit of the spirit in your life. And as we do that, as individuals, collectively, as a body of Christ, the world will take note and the world will ask what makes you tick. I want that too. May the Lord bring that about in our lives, in our homes, in our community of faith. To the glory of his name, let us pray.