Nehemiah Bible Study Lesson Snippet
Who is the Rock of your foundation?
Neh 2:13 'Then I passed on to the Fountain Gate and the King's Pool, but there was no place for my mount to pass...'
What was the solution? What had to happen first? We read that when Nehemiah inspected the wall he "passed on to the Fountain Gate and the King's Pool, but there was no place for my mount to pass." (vs 13) In other words, the rubble from the smashed stonewalls was so high that he couldn't get past. Obviously, the first thing that had to happen if any restoration was going to take place was to get rid of this stinking rubbish! They had to get back to the cities foundation. There is no way that they would have tried to build a wall on top of a huge mound of broken stones. Not very smart, not very secure! No, they had to get rid of the rubble cause it was preventing a solid wall of protection from being built, and it clogged up the gates denying the people of God access into his presence.
No prizes for guessing what foundation they had to get back to. "According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Cor 3:10-11) The only foundation given in the word is Jesus himself , and any work built upon any other foundation will always end in how Jerusalem is pictured here - rubble! Years of hard work had gone into Jerusalem's walls and it had all come to nothing. Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection from the dead gives us both the foundation and the means by which we can actually begin building our lives (or the church). The bible tells of those who remain spiritual babies being "tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine" because they are "not accustomed to the word of righteousness..." (Eph 4.14, Heb 5:13). They have little protection because they still don't understand the foundation that Jesus himself is their righteousness. They don't understand the implications of his death, so can never progress onto his resurrection.
What will you build on?In recent times however, other builders have told us that they have found a new type of foundation upon which you can build very successfully. A very old builder called Geshem said that money and worldly success laid a great foundation to build on. I think he added that God wants you to be rich. The builder Tobiah recently said that good works were the way to go (actually many builders have tried to use this for years). He also stated that some magnificent buildings had been made on this foundation once the builder had increased their effort, cleaned every spot off their garment and were up to date confessing every bad thought and deed. Do this and he guarantees it will work. Well, we'll see later what became of this builder. But in the meantime some still prefer that old foundation being "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord." (Eph 2:20-21)
from Nehemiah Chapter 2: The Reproach, the Rock & the Rubble