Why does true Christianity arouse such hatred? What is it about the gospel of Jesus Christ that causes someone to say, “I hate Christians. I hate the way you live”? Jesus said, in John 15: “If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world – therefore the world hates you.” Because of our relationship with Him, our relationship to the world has changed forever. We no longer belong to this world as we once did, and because of this the world hates us, just as it hates Him. When I was studying in the religion department at Temple University I noticed this: people in the department were very open-minded, for the most part. One woman was into new age spiritualities and she talked freely, with much enthusiasm, about her practices. We had Islamic fundamentalists, Buddhist monks, Hindus, and secularists with an interest in the phenomenon of religion. There was a real spirit of openness toward all these things. The only position that these people found really intolerable was believing Christianity. Why is that? Because Christians, in a way that is not true of any of these other religions, do not belong to this world.
In the Roman Empire, Christians were seen as a group of people who didn’t belong. They somehow weren’t connected with the rest of society. One scholar explains it this way: “The Christian movement was revolutionary not because it had the men and resources to mount a war against the laws of the Roman Empire, but because it created a social group that promoted its own laws and its own patterns of behavior. The life and teachings of Jesus led to the formation of a new community of people called ‘the church.’ Christianity had begun to look like a separate people or nation” (Robert L. Wilken, The Christians as the Romans Saw Them, p. 119). This is just saying, in a different way, what Jesus said to His disciples: “If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world – therefore the world hates you.”
This is what Nehemiah and the builders are experiencing at this point: the hatred of a world that doesn’t know God. This is all happening before the coming of Jesus Christ, so they aren’t called Christians, but the problem is the same one. A world that’s in rebellion against God’s lordship, that’s alienated from Him and going its own way, hates God’s people. Nehemiah and the people of Jerusalem are working at God’s direction; they have a clear sense of call from Him to do this work. They’ve been experiencing His blessing and His confirmation that they’re headed in the right direction.
Notice, first of all, that the people are encountering serious difficulties at this point. The opposition is beginning to intensify. We’ve encountered these enemies before, but now they’re becoming more serious. In the early part of the chapter, they’re using ridicule to try to demoralize the builders: “What are these miserable Jews doing? Do they think they can get everything back to normal overnight? Make building stones out of make-believe?.... That’s right! What do they think they’re building? Why, if a fox climbed that wall, it would fall to pieces under his weight” (The Message). They’re ridiculing, making fun of the builders, but their ridicule is not very convincing. If the builders really have no hope of success, what is Sanballat so angry about? “When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall he exploded in anger, vilifying the Jews” (The Message). If he really thought they had no chance of success, he wouldn’t be so angry. He’s angry because he’s threatened. He ridicules the builders, because deep down he’s afraid they’re going to succeed.
When the builders ignore their ridicule, Sanballat and his friends take things a step further. They begin plotting a surprise attack: “When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repairs of the walls of Jerusalem were going so well – that the breaks in the wall were being fixed – they were absolutely furious. They put their heads together and decided to fight against Jerusalem and create as much trouble as they could” (The Message). The opposition is becoming more determined, and the list of enemies has become larger. At this point, Jerusalem is literally surrounded by enemies on all sides, and these enemies are willing to resort to violence.
Sanballat and his friends are on dangerous ground here. Nehemiah has the backing of the king, so they’re taking the risk of offending him by their opposition to Jerusalem. But the king is a long way off and is busy with other things. And their hatred of the Jews is such that they’re willing to take the risk.
So the builders in Jerusalem are surrounded on all sides by people who hate them and are preparing for a violent attack. At the same time, the work is becoming more difficult. There’s too much rubble; when Nehemiah had done his initial inspection of the walls, he’d seen this problem. The destruction of the wall had left great piles of rock and mortar, making it impossible to move around in some areas. So now the builders are becoming demoralized by the sheer magnitude of the task. Verse 10, in the original, is in the form of a jingle. Here’s how it reads in The Message:
The builders are pooped,The work is too difficult. They’re beginning to wear out, so they’ve composed this saying to express their discouragement. They’re demoralized by the difficulty of the job, and now the people who’ve been ridiculing them are preparing to attack. Things are looking pretty bleak.
the rubbish piles up;
We’re in over our heads,
we can’t build this wall.
But notice Nehemiah’s response to all this. He manages to keep his perspective. He responds, first of all, with prayer: “Oh, listen to us, dear God. We’re so despised: Boomerang their ridicule on their heads; have their enemies cart them off as war trophies to a land of no return; don’t forgive their iniquity, don’t wipe away their sin – they’ve insulted the builders!” (The Message). Remember what we’ve seen in the past: Nehemiah is a man of action. His first impulse would be to jump in and fix things, but he doesn’t follow through on that impulse. He turns first to God. He remembers what is going on; this is God’s work; he’s been acting under God’s direction. So he begins by turning to God with the problem and handing it over to Him. Those who are opposing the work are God’s enemies; that’s why they hate the Jews so intensely. There’s a spiritual battle going on. There’s more at stake here than building a wall. So that’s where Nehemiah begins; he turns to God for help.
But he doesn’t stop there. Our temptation is to polarize on one side or the other. We pray, then we think that if we’re really trusting God, prayer is enough. We think that if we begin to act, we’re showing a lack of faith. We think that trusting God means leaving it all with Him and not doing anything ourselves. I’ve known people who didn’t believe in using medicine or taking care of their physical health; they thought it was enough to just pray about these things and leave it all with God. And then, on the other side, we’re tempted to take the whole burden upon ourselves, to begin scheming and manipulating to get what we want. Nehemiah prays, but he doesn’t only pray. Notice what he does in this context. When he learns of the plot to attack them by surprise, Nehemiah says “But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat” (v. 9). They prayed and, at the same time, they posted a guard. There’s no contradiction between these things. Throughout the rest of the chapter, Nehemiah describes some of the things they’re doing to meet the threat. They pray, looking to God for help, and then they act wisely in response to the situation that’s facing them. Nehemiah keeps his focus on God. Unless God defends them, everything is going to fall apart. And, at the same time, God calls them to use all the resources He’s given them.
Nehemiah needs to keep his sense of perspective, and he manages to do that. But he’s not the only one tempted by discouragement. He’s been called to lead these people who are becoming demoralized, discouraged with the magnitude of the job and fearful of attack from their enemies. So he reminds them: “Don’t be afraid of them. Put your minds on the Master, great and awesome, and then fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes” (The Message). And then, a little later in the chapter: “When you hear the trumpet call, join us there; our God will fight for us.” They’re not on their own. They need to act responsibly, using the gifts and resources God has given them, but the outcome is not dependent on them. “Our God will fight for us.” He reminds them of the truth, which enables them to keep going, despite the difficulty.
The outcome of all this is that the work goes forward. As they pray and work and keep watch, God protects them and prospers the work. Their enemies see that they’ve lost the element of surprise, so they call off the attack. And the work continues to progress, because “the people [work] with all their heart.” The people are working with all their heart, and God is prospering the work. The problems aren’t going away; their enemies continue to give them trouble, and the work is still difficult and exhausting. But God enables them to keep going, and He enables them to make surprising progress.
John, in his first letter, says, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). This world is under the control of the evil one. That’s why there’s such hatred of true Christianity. Sanballat and his friends hated Nehemiah because Nehemiah belonged to God. Their opposition to God, their refusal to submit to His lordship, overflowed in hatred toward Nehemiah and the rest of the people of Jerusalem.
When we encounter that kind of hatred, it’s easy to become threatened. It’s easy to become defensive and fearful. My friend in Amsterdam was able, with God’s help, to respond calmly to the man who was threatening him and eventually the man left without doing any harm. But it doesn’t always turn out that way. What we need to know, in a situation like that, is that the work is not ours. We’re called to be faithful, but the survival of the Church is not dependent on us. Our calling, when things are difficult and when people are opposing us, is to look to God for help and to use whatever means He has given us to improve the situation. And then, having done that, we leave it in God’s hands. It’s not dependent on us. It’s His work. We care about the outcome, but the outcome is not our responsibility. The burden of it is not ours to bear. And since God has promised to care for His Church, He will also care for us personally, as part of His Church.
Polycarp was a disciple of John, the apostle. He became bishop of Smyrna, and when he was in his 80's he was arrested by the Roman authorities. The magistrate commanded him to swear an oath by Caesar and to revile Christ, and Polycarp replied: “For eighty-six years I have been his servant, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” When the magistrate continued to threaten him with physical punishment, Polycarp responded, “You threaten with a fire that burns only briefly and after just a little while is extinguished, for you are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and eternal punishment, which is reserved for the ungodly. But why do you delay? Come, do what you wish.” So they prepared him to be burned, and just before they lit the fire, Polycarp lifted up his voice in prayer: “O Lord God Almighty, Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ... I bless you because you have considered me worthy of this day and hour, that I might receive a place among the number of your martyrs in the cup of your Christ, to the resurrection to eternal life, both of soul and of body, in the incorruptibility of the Holy Spirit.... For this reason, indeed for all things, I praise you, I bless you, I glorify you, through the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom to you with him and the Holy Spirit be glory both now and for the ages to come. Amen” (“The Martyrdom of Polycarp,” in The Apostolic Fathers, ed. Michael W. Holmes).
Polycarp was able to respond calmly before the power of Rome, because: 1) he knew whatever they might do to him personally, the Romans could not destroy the Church; 2) whatever the outcome might be in this specific situation, he knew that God would faithfully stand with him. He had an intense awareness that the power of the world is no match for the power of God, and that there is a day of judgment coming in the future, when all things will be made right. Nehemiah was able to maintain his sense of perspective because he knew that, however powerful and threatening they might seem at the moment, the powers of this world are no match for God, and He will be faithful to His people till the end. And for us, whatever might be happening outwardly at any moment in time, we have these words of Jesus: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.... And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18, 20).
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