NEHEMIAH 7:
Yesterday we read how Nehemiah stood up for all the common people in their financial difficulty. The nobles were rich, but everyone else was suffering— some even having no option but to sell their own children into slavery. Amazingly, he succeeded in convincing the nobles to forgive debts, and forced them take a solemn oath about that. The wall was finished in just 52 days, but Nehemiah was getting more and more threats from Sanballat and his cronies.

ISAIAH 37:
We heard the challenge and mocking of the Assyrian chief of staff— who brought the Assyrian King’s message to Jerusalem with a huge show of force. The challenge was shouted out in Hebrew for all the people to hear. (I always wonder how it was that the Assyrian commander was fluent in Hebrew!) What a thing to happen to a king that 2Kings 18 praises with these words:

2Kings 18:5 NLT Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time.

COLOSSIANS 1:
We finished the wonderful book of Philippians yesterday. I count three great promises in that 4th chapter. But note: This time I feel that all of them are really conditional promises— even the last one. If we are going to have God’s peace guarding our hearts and minds, and if we want God to supply our needs, then we must give attention to how Paul told the Philippians to live and how they were giving to support Paul’s mission.

I encourage everyone to spend more time looking at the treasures of Philippians, and the same goes for the book we start today— Colossians.

Colossians was written around the same time as Philippians, and Philemon was a member of this church. This letter has another wonderful poetic portion in chapter one exalting Christ. In most of my presentations in Indonesian seminaries, I introduce our translation by reading Colossians 2. The things Indonesians don’t understand in their Bibles— and the things I hope you will understand in the GNT or NLT, are spiritual realities. These are things that are true of us spiritually which cannot be seen with physical eyes. If you understand spiritual realities, you get the opportunity to believe them. If you believe them, meditate on them. If you meditate on them, you will find them working powerfully in your life to transform you and release you from sinful desires.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

NEHEMIAH 5-6:
Yesterday Nehemiah gave a listing of the people who rebuilt the wall. This included Shallum and his daughters, and two named goldsmiths, merchants, priests and Levites. The residents of the land opposed to the construction were threatening violence, so the people armed themselves and had men on guard at all times. Nehemiah and his men stayed fully armed at all times, and in the last verse of chapter 4 NLT says ‘even when they went for water’— which I take as a euphemism for going potty. That little phrase is very obscure in Hebrew, and GNT translates it in a different way.

ISAIAH 36:
It was interesting to find this verse near the beginning of Isaiah’s beautiful chapter 35:

35:3 NLT With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands,
and encourage those who have weak knees.

This verse was probably in the mind of the writer of Hebrews in chapter 13. And in fact, the Holy Highway and its destination is very much like the ‘place’ we ‘come to’ in Hebrews 13!

Today we start on the prose portion of Isaiah from chapters 36-39.

PHILIPPIANS 4:
I have found deep meaning and great spiritual help from the portion around verse 13 in chapter 3. And I am certainly not alone in that. Here are some of the most quoted verses in this letter:

Php. 3:13 NLT No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved [perfection//it], but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
15 Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things...

I would like to point out that twice in this chapter Paul points us to heaven. One is in the verses I just quoted, and the other in verse 20, where he says, “We are citizens of heaven.” Note that he calls all of us to keep our focus forward and lengthen our stride as we run toward heaven. All of us! There is no other destination for believers ever mentioned in the Bible. Wherever Jesus is, that’s where we’ll be. And that’s why Paul says repeatedly, dying is better and would simply bring him nearer Christ. If as Revelation portrays, the New Jerusalem comes down to earth, then that is heaven and that’s where we will be. There is no such thing as a Purgatory. And neither is there a separation of believers, where the really holy ones get to go to heaven and the not so good ones stay on earth. There is only hell and heaven. And if you are a believer in Christ, you are a citizen of heaven and you will be right where Jesus is.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

NEHEMIAH 3-4:
After Nehemiah’s wonderful prayer for Jerusalem, more than three months went by before the king noticed him looking sad. He says he had never before looked sad, so he must have waited. God must have been in the timing, because the king wonderfully agreed to help Nehemiah in every way. And the leaders in Jerusalem also were enthusiastic in their acceptance of his proposal to rebuild the walls.

ISAIAH 35:
Yesterday we heard that the land of Edom would become an eternal wasteland and a home for owls and other creatures. The land of Edom is in modern-day Jordan, and GoogleMaps shows almost nothing green in that whole area.

PHILIPPIANS 3:
Yesterday we heard Paul’s wonderful poem of praise about Christ’s humility and subsequent exaltation to the highest place.

And we heard this promise:
Php. 2:13 NLT For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

NLT Translation notes:
Php. 3:1 Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your [fully believing//faith].
13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved [perfection//it], but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.