We all need strong walls around our lives, our families, our church, and our country. In the ancient days, a city without walls was weak and easily defeated. A city needed a strong foundation and walls of fortification.
Wherever God is building, Satan is battling. Nehemiah had a vision for rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem which is why he met with intense opposition.
Understand the tactics of the opposition…
1) Division. (Chapter 5:1-9) Nehemiah encountered opposition from within. Sin and oppression had created division and an unjust system that could have destroyed the rebuilding vision.
“Divide and conquer” is the age-old military strategy most employed by the enemy. Jesus said, “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”
2) Deception. (Chapter 6:1-4) Nehemiah’s enemies attempted to lure him out from behind the city walls under the banner of “peace” to the plains of Ono about twenty miles north of Jerusalem. In reality, it was a trick designed to assassinate him, and Nehemiah saw through the deception.
Nehemiah 6:1-4, Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no breaks left in it (though at that time I had not hung the doors in the gates), that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they thought to do me harm. So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?” But they sent me this message four times, and I answered them in the same manner.
Satan’s methodology is always to distortreality. The key to our victory is to always walk in truth and not by lies.
3) Distraction. (Chapter 6:5-7) Nehemiah’s enemies threatened him with a vicious and deadly rumor campaign. They threatened to frame Nehemiah as leading an insurrection against the Persian King who had sent him.
Nehemiah 6:5-7, Then Sanballat sent his servant to me as before, the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand. In it was written: It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says, that you and the Jews plan to rebel; therefore, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall, that you may be their king. And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem, saying, “There is a king in Judah!” Now these matters will be reported to the king. So come, therefore, and let us consult together.
Distraction can become destruction to a godly vision. When the enemy cannot stop you, he will seek to simply distract you. But Nehemiah would not be distracted from the vision! (See 6:8)
4) Intimidation. (Chapter 6:8-11) When the enemy could not stop the vision through division, deception, or distraction, they resorted to intimidation. The enemy paid someone to go and tell Nehemiah they were going to kill him!
Nehemiah 6:8-11, Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say are being done, but you invent them in your own heart.” For they all were trying to make us afraid, saying, “Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will not be done.” Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. Afterward I came to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was a secret informer; and he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you; indeed, at night they will come to kill you.” And I said, “Should such a man as I flee? And who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in!”
Colossians 3:1-4, If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
You will live a fearless life when you lay down your life, and you know your life is hidden in Christ. (See Colossians 3:1-4)