Recovery - Part 1 of 4 — T. Austin-Sparks

Perhaps that note is especially required when I tell you that the Lord has led me back at this time to the book of Nehemiah. At the moment there is no particular part of the book that I am going to underline, but it is the message that this whole book has for us, as I believe a message very much needed to the time in which we live.

The Historical Setting of Nehemiah

Those of you who are familiar with the book and with the details related to it, be patient. If I just, at the outset, as to the setting of this book, for the sake of refreshing all minds, helping those who may not be so familiar, you may or may not know that although there are many books found together in the Old Testament, including this book, the last recorded piece of history in the life of Israel.

That does not mean that it is the last part of Israel's, but as a matter of Jewish history, this is the last record. There were prophecies of this, to which we may refer as we go on, but again, of Nehemiah, historical record in the Old Testament.

In the Hebrew Bible, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are one book. Later, they were divided into what the Hebrews called the two books of Ezra. Later, some centuries, they were divided, as we have them now, under the two names, Ezra.

Then, this book has its setting as old. In that return from captivity, a remnant of Israel, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Jerebiah, after 70 years, a remnant would return. This has to do with that of Zerubbabel and Haggai, whose prophecies you must read, of course, in connection with this book.

The temple was rebuilt. A beginning was made, then a period of some 21 years of arrest, delay, and then another period of delay for 60 years, bringing us to the time of the Reformation, and on again, another interval of 13 years.

Nehemiah and Ezra, in cooperation for the completion of the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and as this book, particularly, has to do with the rebuilding of the wall. But it was both Nehemiah and Ezra, cooperated even in this.

But that was not the end of the periods of arrest. There are 12 years, of which we have no recorded details. Reforms of Nehemiah, recorded at the end of this book, after the wall was completed, the settling in the cities of the land, and other things.

That is, briefly and very imperfectly, the setting of the book. But if I said no more, there's enough in that. Let us see that the book has a message, something that bears upon centuries, the Christian centuries, and even upon the one in which we are now living.

I think that will become more apparent as we proceed. This book does end in itself, but it ends with nothing brought to perfection. Very much like the book of the Acts, just when you're wanting to know the next thing, how it worked out there for a long time.

That, I think, also is significant. The book of the Acts was not completed. The story was not finished, because it has taken 2 ,000 years to add to it, to bring it nearer to completion. It was not completed, because nothing in the old dispensation could be completed, until the completion of everything.

Israel's Deterioration and the Need for Recovery

Remember that it was between 50 and 100 years, after Nehemiah's work and ministry that the prophet Malachi prophesied, in which period, as you know from his prophecy, very seriously deteriorated. And that last book of the Bible is a very painful, pathetic, and tragic book of the Old Testament, I mean, prophecies of Malachi, showing again how God's people are to deteriorate, to depart from that which the Lord has so wonderfully recovered.

The book of Nehemiah has to do with the rebuilding. The second section has to do with the recovery of the Word of God, and its establishing thing in the life of God's people. The third part has to do with the localities of the people in the cities of the land.

If we could recognize the spiritual significance of those three things, are not living back in the Old Testament, when we read this book. We are not reading past history, right in the immediate activity of God.

The rebuilding of that which is symbolized by the wall, the establishment of the authority of the Word of God in the life of His people. His purpose, representation, there's a lot here that is very enlightening and instructive in those matters, as they are so up to date.

A People Called Out for God's Name

But let us again make a survey. I've said that the book has three main sections. But then again, about this book, as it embraces the history of God's people. Firstly, a people called out of the nations to be a people for His name.

One has only to use that phrase, and we're in the New Testament immediately. Recognize the purpose of God in this, to take out of the nations for His name. Embraces a people. Secondly, it embraces that history, their powerful influence among the nations.

Spiritual influence that this people had among the nations when they were in right relationship. There's no mistaking that. When we got to begin in the book of Joshua, how as constituted God's people in the land, immediately all the nations round about began to take account of them.

Realized that they were a people to be reckoned with, and a people of whom they had great fear. They had, and so it was, from time to time, when their relationship with God was right, they were a people who could not be ignored among the nations.

That is something to take a note of. Because the loss of that influence is something that has to be looked at for the discovery of its cause or causes. Tempted to enlarge upon each of these, but I think that will come.

But you will agree with me if I just at that very point say that it is not so now. In the case of the Lord's people in this world, they are not something of which the world is afraid. They are not something that is being taken account of as representing a menace of the people of God in the world and in the nations.

Not something that is a tremendous, no one can ignore. As it was from time to time in this world, and as it was in the beginning of the Christian era. It was like that. What a spiritual influence. What a telling for, what an upset to the world.

It was through people that turned the world upside down. The history of that tremendous spiritual influence that they had once had, had lost, and which now God was seeking to recover. In the third place, influence lost.

Captivity, Discipline, and the Return of a Remnant

That impact because of the lost spirituality of the people. Their pure had given place as we shall see as we go on to other things in the spirit of the world. Then in the fourth place embraces that long period of captivity, of impotence, and of poignant discipline, all with a view to recover.

For the moment it will return of a remnant. Discipline. Embody God ever intended of his people. Making up the history covered by this. Having said that about the book, let us still take a wider view. And here dear friends, you will be patient, is what has come to me with tremendous force.

I feel if it should register itself upon you, would have a very great effect. This book, which goes under this name Nehemiah, is in itself a microcosm of the conflict of all the ages. You think about that.

When we reach the end of this book, which as we have said is the last fragment of historical record in the Old Testament, we are in the presence of an achievement intended by God himself. Something God intended to be done.

And therefore something to which God himself committed himself in sovereign purpose and sovereign power. That to me is the heart of the message of this book. Let's repeat that. The conclusion of this book, we find ourselves right in the presence of a tremendous achievement.

The doing of which demanded the absolute sovereignty of God. So that this achievement represents something to which God committed himself because he willed it, because he determined. That is a comprehensive statement as to the whole conflict of the ages.

At last, long last, it may be we shall stand in something like that, in an achievement intended from eternity to which he committed himself. It will be the monument to his sovereign power and his sovereign.

For this procosm of this conflict of the ages, a representation of the much larger purpose and what all time reasons why here we have such a wonderful, clear movement from God's side on his own part, by his own initiative, in his own sovereignty, committing himself to it.

And who can read this book without seeing that whatever occupies the forefront of the stage, it's God behind this. It's God who is the reason why in what is after all only a historic incident, a small fragment of divine history and representation, the reason why this sovereign activity of God, this committal of God to this thing is here on record, is not because it is something in itself, not because this began and ended with this remnant, but because this movement and this remnant embodied or contained the principles and the attributes of that much larger, that much greater, that eternal purpose of God.

God's Sovereign Purpose in History

See, the Bible is like that, dear friends. Game to game, you see God interested in something or someone, very interested, and acting sovereignly in relation to that thing or person, committing himself and letting it be known that he is bound up with that or with them.

Is it because God is so interested in the incidents of history, in persons or things or places on this earth? No, it's not that at all. If you look deeper, you will see that those persons or those things or those places are the embodiment of spiritual and eternal principles.

They're not just things in themselves beginning and ending with themselves. There's something there which represents what is of God which is eternal. In his methods, in his laws, his principles, this book of Nehemiah being a book which shows so clearly and has all the evidences of God being involved, God committing himself and God acting in sovereignty so wonderfully.

May I say as parenthesis that the very movement of the infinite sovereignty of God's wisdom and power is not always in some demonstration rending the heavens, it's in just ruling and overruling and making things happen and work together.

It all looks very simple, nevertheless. It would never have been but for God. It could never have been. The forces against it were far too great for the achievement but for God. Where is God? He is behind it all.

Not because this is something in itself but because of this very thing, this thing, principles dear to God's heart which are infinitely greater than the thing or the person. Those are the things which recur again and again in the movement of God through the ages.

He chooses. He commits himself. He works not because of the people of the moment or even the method but because there is something very, very dear to his heart here in spiritual principles and in eternal life.

I trust that you are able to interpret from what I am saying very much larger things. Let us see what constitutes that achievement. It will not be difficult for us to make the transition from one realm of things to another.

From the Earthly to the Heavenly Reality

You have these two realms, these two categories, these two orders. On the one side you have the temporal. Over against that you have the spiritual. On the one side you have the earthly. Over against that you have the heavenly.

On the one side you have the historical. Over against that you have the eternal. On the one side you have something that is quite local. On the other side over against that you have that which is universal.

And again on the one side you have a limited representation. On the other side you have the divine fullness of reality. I say if you look at the things which constitute this achievement recorded in this book it will not be difficult for you to make that transition from the temporal, earthly, historical, local, limited to the spiritual, heavenly, eternal, universal.

Then what constitutes? Break it up in this way. First of all, a place chosen by God and appointed by Him for His dwelling. Jerusalem was the local, earthly, temporal, limited representation of that far greater divine conception.

A place for God, a place where He chose to have His habitation. That is a far, far greater interpretation than any earthly person. You see that goes right back behind everything. Why God created this world.

His thought was to dwell, to make the earth His habitation. To fill the earth with His glory. His character, a place chosen by God for His dwelling. Characteristic of the story of the achievement. Far bigger history than the history of Jerusalem in that word in relation to God's desire and prophecy.

Making it necessary for God to withdraw. Unable to realize for the time being that eternal intention to dwell with men. Recovered and rebuilt. What a significance the book has if that were all. What it's about for us.

If that is its significance and import. If that then is its larger meaning than the merely earthly and temporal. Then we understand God acting in sovereignty, power and wisdom and committing Himself. You see the point?

I think that's quite clear. A place suitable to Himself where He may dwell with men. What a lot there is of the Bible in that. When God went into a pagan city to begin this movement of recovery. Found the man, appeared unto him as the God of glory.

Pulled him out of that city and put into his heart another city. That man Abraham looked for an elder, an architect. He never realized it. He died looking for it. On through the Old Testament. It's the city, city always in view.

The heart of everything. The most significant thing. That's and yet as an earthly being so disappointed. Feeling God. But the vision does not fade. And it's impressive. At the end of the Bible. He carried me away into great and high mountains.

Showed me the holy city, New Jerusalem. Coming down from God out of heaven. Prepares a bride adorned for a husband. Having the glory of God. A light, light unto a lamp. Most precious, most precious. You've got the larger, the heavenly, the eternal interpretation of this in the word city.

The Wall as a Boundary of Divine Thought

This wall is the boundary wall. Indicating the sphere to which God limits Himself. That is, God will not commit Himself. God is particular. God is particular. He will have things according to His own thought.

The city is built and designed by God. Something that answers to, corresponds to a divine thought. And the wall indicates that demarcation of what is of God. That limiting of things to a specific kind of thought.

Spiritual thought. It's a boundary. It's only a figure and type in Nehemiah or in the Old Testament. But it carries that spiritual principle. Here you will find that which is essentially, intrinsically according to the mind of God.

You will find that which is essentially, intrinsically according to the mind of God. It's marked off by that thought. That wall, ah yes, it was like that to begin with in the garden. God present. Because everything corresponded to the mind of God.

And He was able to say, it is broken down like the wall of Jerusalem. God again moving to recover. To restore. To rebuild what this book is about. More than a bit, a fragment of history in the Old Testament.

Representation of a great spiritual conception. Out from the mind. Thirdly, a people because of loss of divine caring. Alienated. This here. Of the people which led to their alienation. They're being carried away into a foreign country.

And their loss of spiritual character. Divined away from God. And God's people in representation in the remnant. Restored to their home in God. Friends, every one third of God recovers to the Lord. Knows quite well that they've come home.

All the same meaning of that word. To their spiritual home. A remnant united. Divinely appointed. Again I say what a lot there is in that. Saved. Gathered out of the nation. Cleansed from their old sin.

Brought back into the place of fellowship with God. And united as a people under a divinely appointed headship. Well you can carry that further. And you know that that is what the New Testament. It's all about that.

The Church as God's Recovered Testimony

This book then embodies the eternal future. And as I started by saying it is a microcosm of this long drawn out battle of the age. But there's one more thing. A people whose symphony and whose position represents the absolute.

That's no small thing. When the church reaches the end for which God is determined and has committed himself. The church will embody this testimony. All of the ages on the path of adverse powers have been proved in it.

Could not. Look at this book. You see the enemies. You refer to them again later. The enemies. Many. Many kinds. All set upon in an achievement. No weapon that was formed against them. Every tongue that rose in judgment.

They are the embodiment. May be assailed from every angle and along every line. But in the end they. How rich this book is. As I have said a representation of the far greater. Behind this recovery there is a long and painful history.

The Failure of Faith and Confidence in God

That which made it necessary. Made the recovery. Firstly there's the history of a people's failure. Confidence in God. Exhibited by their turning to the devices of men. You look into Israel's history.

That's just the book. Again and again. When they lost in God. Allow that faith and confidence to wane. They went down to Egypt. They resorted to this and that and some other worldly means. For their very survival.

Tremendous amount of history. In Old and New Testament. In that fact. That is why recovery became necessary. Recovery of faith and confidence in God. That is altogether independent. It's glowing. I said we in our day are living in this book spiritually.

There's no doubt about that. We do not want to embark upon criticism. Sensoriousness and that kind of thing. To anyone who has any perception. It is clear that this is the tragedy of the church. There are alternatives to God.

Alternatives to God that would not be admitted. Acknowledged or put like that. Looking to the world. To men. To devices. To all sorts of things. For its survival. It was God. Faith. Look at the beginning of the New Testament.

Look at that. Book of beginnings of this dispensation. What is called the Acts. Were men anyway calling upon the world? Looking to the world? Dependent upon the world? Looking to themselves? To the devices of men?

The institutions of men? The organizations of men? Were they? That was the day of their mighty influence in the world. But the glorified Christ was their one and their only recourse. At all times. In all matters.

And that accounted for their power. Loss of confidence in God is always proved by what you turn to. Your second. In faith and confidence. Resulting in dislocation. Disruption of every kind. That was Israel's history.

Disintegration, Defilement, and Spiritual Impotence

Disintegrated people. Broken into a thousand fragments. No cohesion. No unity. No oneness. Therefore. No. Or impact or registration upon their souls. This follows this loss of confidence in God. It did with them.

The nature of it. The nature of their condition. When it came to be like that. Well, always defilement and corruption. That is. A breaking down of the barriers between what is of God and what is of the world.

The world seeping in. The world touching holy things with its defiled hand. People of God reached out a hand to the hand of the world. Defilement. And the general result. A false. Even a false life. Which is always evidence.

Always evidence. Disappointment. What the Bible calls damaging. That is. Labor. Expenditure. Tremendous activity. Never getting there. Never getting there. After all. The money put into bags with holes.

Isn't that, Haggai? Bringing home the fruit of the labor and finding. Whereas to be something it turns out to be nothing. Life. Life poured out. Tremendous. Malachi and Haggai give us the answer. You look at it.

It's not commensurate. With all our effort. So it was with Israel. That's a pathetic position. Disappointment in life and life work. And a hollowness of heart. And God's showing in this book. How to reverse.

A Mind to Work and the Joy of the Lord

And this book is a wonderful setting point. Of the reverse of that. Now the people have a mind to work. Now the people are giving themselves tremendously. Up to what purpose. I have said you reach the end of this book and you're in the presence of an achievement.

Not a frustration. Not a disappointment. An answer is given. Representation of things. I invite you. The book is a revelation to our hearts. Frustration. Disappointment. Vanity and vexation of spirit.

Can be turned. A mighty achievement. With the joy of the Lord. As you know that's the great word. Joy of the Lord. If I understand the meaning of that it just means God's satisfaction. Your satisfaction.

If God is satisfied. Every heart in fellowship. Demanded a new activity of God. And the securing of a people in which that new activity could be shown for. Could be for recovery. For recovery. Does that belong only to the book of Nehemiah?

God's Commitment to a Disciplined Remnant

Dear friends. I believe that God will commit himself. God will act sovereignly. When he finds a people. Disciplined. Chastened. Maybe broken. So far as all self-imposed. People who like the remnant. When the Lord finds a people who have no other.

Counter or dividing influence. He should have that which satisfies his own heart. He'll commit himself. They'll have their difficulties. Their many adversities. Their plenty of suffering. It will embody the fact.

That no enemy is sufficient. And no none revenge. Cheat God of his end. Maybe that you and I are called. A little part of this. Such a movement of God in our days. Your heart respond to that. Remember.

As I have said. This book represents an end time. And an end time activity of God. We are in that time. Even more than Nehemiah. The end time. Of all end times. That's what God would do. I pray that he may open your spiritual eyes.

Perhaps the setting of this time together. And again. Either give or restore. Which integrates his people. And makes us. Like these people. Devoted.