A Great Work

In this week’s Come, Follow Me lesson we learn about Zerubbabel and Nehemiah who worked to restore Jerusalem to what it once was. The main mission of Zerubbabel was to rebuild the temple. He led the Jews back to Jerusalem around 537 BC (see Ezra 2:2) and was appointed the governor of Jerusalem by Cyrus, king of Persia. He is also listed in the genealogy of Jesus given by Matthew: “And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel” (Matthew 1:12). Nehemiah came much later than Zerubbabel and was the cup-bearer of the king Artaxerxes (a later king of Persia). Nehemiah was told this about the Jews in Jerusalem: “The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.” He recorded, “when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven” (Nehemiah 1:3-4). The king asked him why he was so sad, and Nehemiah explained, “The city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire” (Nehemiah 2:3). When the king asked Nehemiah what he wanted, he requested to be sent to Jerusalem to help build up the city, and in particular his work would be rebuild the walls around Jerusalem to protect the city. This was in about 445 BC, nearly one hundred years after Zerubbabel first went back to Jerusalem. The manual says this about the missions of these two: “The Lord’s work rarely goes unopposed. This was true of the efforts led by Zerubbabel and Nehemiah. Here’s a simple approach that can help you learn from these stories and consider how you can do the Lord’s work despite opposition.” It then suggests that we study the work God had for each of them, the opposition each faced, and how each of them responded.

            Zerubbabel described his mission to “the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin” this way: “Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us.” This was surely a daunting task to try to rebuild the magnificent building that Solomon originally had constructed. He faced much opposition from their neighbors in the surrounding regions: “Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.” Those opposed to the building of the temple wrote letters to the Persian kings and finally got the king’s support. So “they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power. Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem (Ezra 4:3-5, 24-25). But Zerubbabel was undeterred, holding fast to the words and encouragement of the prophets: “Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them” (Ezra 5:1-2). He pushed through during opposition and eventually got Darius to support the construction, and the temple was finished: “And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king” (Ezra 6:14-15). Overall the total time was 20 years, and Zerubbabel’s persistence and willingness to stick to the prophets is a powerful example for us in our own missions.

            Nehemiah described his mission in going back to Jerusalem this way: “Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work” (Nehemiah 2:17-18). He was there to build up and protect the city, and in particular he sought to build new walls around Jerusalem. Nehemiah and his people also received much opposition like Zerubbabel had: “But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?” (Nehemiah 2:19) These two, Sanballat and Tobiah, in particular opposed and mocked Nehemiah’s work: “But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall” (Nehemiah 4:1-3). Nehemiah’s words in response can inspire us no matter what our work is: “The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build…. I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” (Nehemiah 2:20, 6:3) Surely the Lord has a great work for us to do in our own lives, and we must learn to not let distractions and oppositions move us away from what He wants us to accomplish. I love how President Uchtdorf used this story to encourage us in our work: “My dear brethren, like Nehemiah, we have a great work to do. We stand overlooking the horizon of our age. It is my fervent prayer that in spite of temptations, we will never lower our standards; that in spite of distractions, wherever they may come from, we will not lose focus on what matters most; that we will stand resolute and together, shoulder to shoulder, as we valiantly bear the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that we may be worthy of the holy priesthood of Almighty God and, to a man, lift our heads and with unwavering voice proclaim to the world, ‘We are doing a great work, and we will not come down.’”