Nehemiah 1:1-4

That has also been turning to joy as we begin a new study together.

And we'll spend most of this summer, the next couple of months,

looking together at the book of Nehemiah.

Let me begin this morning as I heard a sermon this week on this book.

There was a quote read from a book by a man named Wesley Finn

called Man Ruined and Restored.

I just want to begin reading to you this quote, this little story he told.

And a preacher made the mistake of showing two boys the text he would be preaching from

that Sunday, the previous Saturday afternoon.

When he turned his back, the boys glued some of the pages of his Bible together.

Not a funny joke, young men.

So on Sunday, when he stood to preach, he read,

And Noah, when he was 120 years old, took unto himself a wife who was,

then turning the page, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high,

built of gopher wood, and pitch within and without.

Puzzled, he paused, read it again, and then looked up at his congregation and said,

I have read the Bible through many, many times,

but this is the first time I have ever read this.

Yet I believe the Bible to be true from cover to cover,

so I accept it as truth that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Reading that to you just to say, there are parts of our Bible that have yet to be peeled open.

And that's a sad thing in American Christianity,

that we altogether have neglected whole sections of the Scriptures.

Many Christians walk around acting as if the only inspired part of the Bible is the New Testament.

I made a little jest at you earlier.

Some of us just carry New Testaments around with us,

and that's okay.

There's such valuable truths contained within,

but it's certainly a mark of a mature Christian when we begin to value the Old Testament Scriptures.

We begin to see that they speak of Christ as well.

And those of us who are standing on this side of the cross

now have the ability to see all of the fulfillment of the promises of God.

And therefore, the Old Testament Scriptures become that much more precious to us.

It's a people not looking to the promise,

wanting to know how it is that this promise will be fulfilled,

but having seen it fulfilled,

we now get to take on a new and a deeper appreciation for the things contained in the Old Testament.

And so, it's my hope as we peel the pages of Nehemiah open

that you will begin to appreciate the Old Testament text as much of as the first.

Now, the book of Nehemiah today, I'm going to give you kind of a sweeping overview of it.

It records events chronologically from Nehemiah's first term as governor of Jerusalem,

those of you who care about dates,

from about 445 to 433 B.C.

That's Nehemiah 1-12,

to his second term as governor,

possibly beginning about 424 B.C.

That's the place that we put this book.

Now, you may be a bit confused,

because in your Bible, it's going to be ordered.

So, we have 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles,

Ezra, Nehemiah.

Where does Nehemiah fall, though, in the timeline of reality, of the actual world?

These are ordered by history books.

It doesn't work out quite that way.

At the same time as Nehemiah, we have Haggai and Zechariah,

the events that happen in the book of Esser,

and then Malachi.

Really, if we were going to put it in chronological order,

it belongs towards the end of our Old Testament.

This is after Babylonian exile.

This is the people returning again to the land that God had given them.

God goes silent after Malachi comes and prophesies for 400 years,

and then comes back on the scene when we see

the heralding of the births of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.

So, that's where this fits.

Some of you may have a chronological Bible,

or they're kind of neat because they break things apart

and put them in that proper order.

Recognize that this is not laid out normally, normatively, in that way.

They're grouped by types of books.

And here we have a book of history.

So, that's where this falls.

Nehemiah was not written by Nehemiah.

It's widely accepted that it was written by Ezra.

In fact, the Latin Vulgate calls Nehemiah Ezra II.

It's a continuation of.

The early historical evidences actually show Ezra and Nehemiah as one book.

Now, there's certainly some first-hand quotations

believed to be taken from Nehemiah's own journal, Ezra pulled from.

But the evidences we have,

we see the recurrent phrase,

hand of the Lord, very similar writing.

And then as well as Ezra's role as a priest-scribe,

which would have granted him access

to the royal archives of the Persian Empire.

So, we see these vast lists

of the numbers of people that returned to Jerusalem.

And Ezra would have actually had the access to those records,

whereas Nehemiah would have not.

So, it's widely accepted that Ezra was actually the writer

of the book of Nehemiah.

Now, at this point, you may be saying,

great, fantastic facts.

We know where it falls in time.

We know who wrote it.

But why are we going to be using Nehemiah?

I've said to you already,

I hope to give you an appreciation of the Old Testament text.

Is that really a good reason, though,

to delve into it together?

It's a small reason, not a large reason,

but it is a reason.

The reason we're going to study Nehemiah together this summer

is that I believe it's very timely for us.

The place that our church is now.

And I'll share a little more with you

as we go on through this Sunday and in the coming weeks.

And you'll begin to understand, I think,

why I believe that to be the case.

But let me just say to you,

as an overarching reason,

is that Nehemiah was a man who cared deeply

about the glory of God

and the good of God's people.

He cared deeply about the glory of God

and the good of God's people.

And I think that this can speak to us

where we are.

So, let's look at the text together.

Nehemiah chapter 1.

Nehemiah 1 · chapter mention

We're just going to read together

the first four verses.

The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hakaliah.

Now, it happened in the month of Chislev

in the 20th year,

as I was in Susa, the citadel,

that Hanani, one of my brothers,

came with certain men from Judah.

And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped,

who had survived the exile,

and concerning Jerusalem.

So he said,

how are things going back in Jerusalem?

And they said to me,

the remnant there in the province

who had survived the exiles

is in great trouble.

This word in Hebrew is the opposite of peace.

They're in turmoil and shame.

They were being ridiculed

because the wall of Jerusalem is broken down

and its gates are destroyed by fire.

And this grieves Nehemiah.

Deeply grieves him.

Look at verse 4.

As soon as I heard these words,

I sat down and wept and mourned for days.

And I continued fasting and praying

before the God of heaven.

Now, to understand why Nehemiah may have felt this way,

I think it's important that we get

a little bit of a background.

We set a stage leading up to this very point.

Remember that the nation of Israel

was formed around a patriarch, Abraham.

Abraham was called by God

to be a people for his possession.

He promised to bless the nations in him.

Gave him the name Abraham.

And this nation grew.

And of course, there's a lot of events.

I'm sweeping through Old Testament history here.

Grew to a nation that was ruled by three kings.

Saul, David, and Solomon.

This was Israel's golden age.

They were the power to be reckoned with

in that region.

Mighty.

David.

You read the stories of David

and the conquering that he did in those days.

But because Solomon compromised so greatly

with the things of God,

God promised to bring calamity.

Bring a judgment upon them.

But because God loved David

the way he loved him,

he told Solomon that it wouldn't come to pass

until Solomon died.

And that's what happened.

That's exactly what happened.

A civil war broke out.

The nation became divided.

Israel, the group in the north,

took the name Israel.

Judah in the south.

It was the most prominent tribe.

They took the name Judah in the south.

In 722 BC,

the Assyrians,

a great world power at the time,

came and sacked,

conquered in the northern kingdom.

Pillaged, plundered,

thousands died.

They carried away captives.

The tragic time for the northern kingdom.

And then in roughly 605 to 586,

the Babylonians did the same

in the south.

Turn with me back

just a couple of books

to 2 Chronicles.

So you're going to have

Ezra before Nehemiah

and then 2 Chronicles

right at the end,

chapter 36.

You read with me

a little bit about this.

2 Chronicles 36,

beginning in verse 15.

The Lord,

the God of their fathers,

sent persistently to them

by His messengers

because He had compassion

on His people

and on His dwelling place.

But they kept mocking

the messengers of God,

despising His words

and scoffing at His prophets

until the wrath of the Lord

rose against His people

until there was no remedy.

Thereofor He brought up against them

the king of the Chaldeans,

Babylonians,

interchangeable words here,

who killed their young men

with a sword

in the house of their sanctuary

and had no compassion

on young man or a virgin,

old man or aged.

He gave them all

into His hand.

And all the vessels

of the house of God,

great and small,

and the treasures

of the house of the Lord,

and the treasures

of the king and of his princes,

all these He brought to Babylon.

And they burned

the house of God,

and here you go,

and broke down the wall

of Jerusalem

and burned all its palaces

with fire

and destroyed

all its precious vessels.

He took into exile

He took into exile

in Babylon

those who had escaped

from the sword,

and they became servants

to Him and to His sons

until the establishment

of the kingdom of Persia.

So here you see

the destruction of Jerusalem

to the degree

that they actually

tore down the walls.

And the walls were significant

both practically

and symbolically.

Practically,

they protected the city.

People came inside

and they closed up the gates

as a way they fended off

attackers.

Symbolically,

it meant that the city

was healthy.

It meant that it had power

because of the might

of the walls.

And the Babylonians

knew this,

and therefore they

destroyed it.

They laid it to waste.

Jerusalem was ruined.

And they carried

everybody off.

These dark,

dark days.

It's prophesied

in Jeremiah chapter 25

Jeremiah 25 · chapter mention

that they would be gone

for 70 years.

And this is exactly

what happened.

What happened

to cause the tide

to turn?

What was it that

began to allow

the Jews

to enter back

into the promised land?

It was a handing off

of world power.

The Persians

conquered the Babylonians

about 539 B.C.

Such a cool picture

of God's providence

and the way

He works

in the world.

He used the pagan peoples

to judge His own,

to judge Israel.

And then He uses

pagan peoples

coming and conquering

the Babylonians

to send them back.

The way He works

and uses world events

is rather incredible.

And so we see

that they were

then sent back.

2 Chronicles 36

22-23

Now in the first year

of Cyrus,

king of Persia,

that the word of the Lord

by the mouth of Jeremiah

might be fulfilled,

the Lord stirred up

in the spirit of Cyrus,

king of Persia,

so that He made a proclamation

throughout all His kingdom

and also put it in writing,

Thus says Cyrus,

king of Persia,

the Lord,

the God of heaven

has given me

all the kingdoms of the earth

and He has charged me

to build Him

a house at Jerusalem

which is in Judah.

Whoever is among you

all of His peoples,

may the Lord His God

be with you.

Let Him go up.

So we begin to see

a movement

back towards

the promised land.

So,

if you'll allow,

we'll call the first group

Group A,

right?

This is who Cyrus sends,

the people that went back,

they were led by a man

named Zerubbabel,

which is a fantastic name

to say.

I got to say it

over and over this week,

right?

A man named Zerubbabel

led them back,

right?

Took them 20 years

to rebuild the temple,

but that's what they

set themselves to doing

when they returned.

You can read about this

in the book of Ezra,

right?

Eighty years later,

we've got Group B,

and this is when

spiritual reform

begins to take place.

And then 13 years later,

here we have Nehemiah

hearing the news

of what's going on.

So,

we know the temple's

been restored,

some spiritual revival

is beginning to happen there,

but the walls

are still not built.

It's been 90 years

since the people

were released by Persia

to go back,

and yet,

the city still lays

in shambles.

It's fascinating

that Nehemiah was a layman.

Here we find him

serving the now king

of Persia,

King Artaxerxes,

as his cupbearer.

He was the guy

that drank the wine

before the king

to be sure

that it wasn't poisoned.

A layman used

in such a powerful way

by God.

It's an encouragement

to me as a fairly

uneducated,

unequipped man.

Nehemiah was used

in mighty ways,

and he was uniquely

fitted for the task.

Uniquely fitted

for the task

that was ahead of him.

He was the cupbearer

to Artaxerxes,

which meant that

if a cupbearer

did his job well,

he became a trusted friend

of the king.

He stood at his side

all the time.

Anytime the king drank,

the cupbearer

was there with him,

served him as a friend.

Often they became

great counselors

to the king.

The king would bounce ideas

off of the cupbearer.

And here you see

as Nehemiah is serving

in his presence,

chapter 2,

that his face is long.

He's sad,

which was not a thing

you did in front of a king.

Kings wanted joyful people

around them.

I could say that of myself.

Like,

don't come around me

and be sad.

That's just depressing.

Be happy around me.

But here he is

with a long face,

risking his very life,

but he's in such mourning

and torment

over what's happening

in Israel

that the king asks him,

why are you so sad?

And he shares with the king

and the king does

a phenomenal thing.

Again,

moved along

by the prominence of God

and gives to him

basically a blank check.

He says,

well,

go then.

Go back and build

the walls.

Writes him letters.

Gives him an armed escort

to go back.

Gives him letters

to reap

harvest of lumber

from Lebanon

to build

precious,

precious lumber

in this area

to build back up

the wall.

It's a great,

great,

great picture of this

and as Nehemiah himself says,

the good hand of God

was upon me.

Nehemiah was a man

zealous

for the glory of God.

The reason

that he's so

torn,

that he weeps

and mourns

for days,

that he risks

his own life

being sad

in the presence

of the king

is that

the state of Israel

in these days

was the visible

glory of God.

It was the

manifestation

of God's goodness,

of his character

to his people.

And the fact

that they were

in such shambles

was an affront

to what God

had done for them.

The fact that the people

for 90 years

had yet to put themselves

to the work

of rebuilding that,

of properly displaying

what God had done

for them

is why he's torn up.

He cares about

the good

of God's people,

but he primarily

cares about the glory

of his God.

That people would

properly worship him,

properly see him

for who he is.

He was zealous

for God's glory.

And he was a man

of prayer.

We see in

13 chapters,

we see him pray

on 10 separate times.

The book of Nehemiah

both opens

and closes

with Nehemiah

in prayer.

because he understood

the sovereign hand

of God

and his great

necessity of it.

So Nehemiah

was uniquely

fitted for this

task

that was set

before him.

So we see here

in this story,

to kind of give you

the framework,

and we're going to go

back and fill in

the pieces here,

that he travels

back to Israel

with an armed guard

sent by the king.

When he gets there,

he spends three days

examining the situation.

He even goes out

by night

to see the condition

of the wall,

to see what kind

of task was set

before him.

And then he calls

together the people

to build.

And the text records

for us that they

brought their hands

to bear,

for the people

had a mind

or a heart

to work.

So he rallies

them together

to do this great work

that's ahead of them.

And it'd be really

great at this point

if the story ended

and we just said,

well, fantastic,

and they built the wall

and everybody lived,

happily ever after.

But it didn't go

so easy for them,

right?

There was much

opposition to the work.

And at this point,

we can pause

and reflect upon

our own lives

and the opposition

that we experience

in them.

This morning,

Sam allowed me

to come up

to the building early

and just do a little bit

of last preparation

for the day.

But I was thinking

about it being

Father's Day

and I was thinking

about dads

loading kids

into vans

and the screaming

and the wanting

of juice

and crackers

and those of you

who are without children

will not understand

the chaos sometimes

that happens

on a Sunday morning

before we come here.

There's opposition

to the work, right?

Like dads,

how many times

do you feel like

just turning around

and going back

to the house

saying,

fine,

this is not going well

for us this day,

right?

There's much calamity,

many things

battling against us

to do the work

that's set before us

by our Lord.

That's a very minor

example,

I'm aware.

But there's much

opposition.

The peoples of the land

as they're referred to

here in Nehemiah

don't want to see

Israel rebuild the walls.

They don't want to see

them fortify

and protect themselves.

They want glory

and honor to belong

to King Artaxerxes,

not to the God

of these people.

And so there's plotting

against them

or we're going to

study some of that

together.

There's times at which

they're both building

the wall

and they've got swords

on their sides.

There's times at which

they're carrying things

in one hand

and a sword

in the other hand.

But they were so

determined.

They had their minds,

their hearts,

set to the work

before them.

And so they complete

the wall.

I hope I'm not

breaking,

shattering your

spoiler alert here

for the story.

They do in fact

build the wall.

They build it

in 52 days.

Something that

hadn't been completed

in 90 years.

They set their minds

to it.

They work hard

in spite of the opposition

and they build the wall

in 52 days.

And we see this record

through to chapter 7

of the book.

And it doesn't end there.

The building is not

yet done.

The spiritual rebuilding

begins at that point.

As I told you,

there's some things

beginning to happen.

Some spiritual revitalization

happening back

with that second movement

we called Group B.

But it really takes off

at this point.

In chapters 8-13

we see this.

And 8-10

we probably have

the greatest record

in the scriptures

of spiritual revival.

They pull out

the law

and they open it

and it's read before them

by Ezra

and there's this

great repentance

followed by

wonderful praise

of the things

that God

has done for them.

This huge, huge revival

that happens

and we get the

great privilege

of getting to look

at that together

and what revival

looks like

in the land.

And I want to tell you

I've got four objectives

in our time together

over the summer.

Four things

that I hope to accomplish

as we study this together.

Firstly,

I want to expand

your appreciation

for the inspired words

of God.

As I said before,

the whole thing

is inspired

and given to us

for our instruction.

I want you to really

take hold

of that.

Now it's going to be

a challenge for me.

I really much prefer

to preach verse by verse

through the epistles.

The teaching,

the doctrinal parts.

This is narrative.

It's going to be

a little bit challenging

for me,

but as I've discovered

that 40% of our scriptures

is narrative.

40% of it

is narrative.

It is a wonderful,

wonderful way

to understand

and to see

the great truths

of God

as we see

the stories of God

being played out.

There's evangelistic

movements around

the world right now

that are using

storytelling

to present the gospel.

It's a valuable way

for us to learn

information.

Some of you

may remember

some of the books

that you were

forced to read

in high school

and the themes

contained within them

because you remember

the story.

You get the story.

Still, right now

The Great Gatsby

has come out

in a movie.

I was forced

to read that book

in high school

and I remember

the themes

of that story

because I can remember

what happens

in it.

So I hope that

you'll appreciate

better the inspired

words of God

in our study together

which means

I've got to work

hard at showing

it to you

and showing you

its great value.

Secondly,

I want to expose

you to the character

of God.

I want to expose

you to the character

of God

and I know

that that sounds

lofty

and academic.

You certainly

could take

a lot of notes.

We could

systematically

work through

the character

of God

but here we see

it played out

in a story

and I can tell

you that all

the doctrines

that really

affect my life

the things

I really

take hold of

and work in me

I came to

by reading

about stories

of God.

Take for example

the gospel

of grace

the doctrines

of grace.

This really

began to mean

something to me

when I began

to read stories

like in Genesis

the life of Joseph

who was sold

into slavery

thrown into jail

ended up

in a prominent

position

that he might

save his people

and you see

the sovereign

hand of God

working

and moving

and suddenly

the little

things of my

life

little things

that are nothing

like getting

sold into slavery

nothing like

being thrown

into prison

for being

righteous

very

unmonumental

right?

Much of an

effect as I

see the sovereign

hand of God

working in

things like

this.

I'll give you

a list

just in the

book of Nehemiah

the way that

God is referred

to here

in the text

and I don't

believe this is

exhaustive at all

but listen to

this

he is called

the great

and awesome

God

the faithful

God

the loving

God

the powerful

God

the strong

God

the maker

of the heavens

the maker

of earth

and seas

the life

giver

the sovereign

God

the righteous

God

the covenant

keeping

God

the God

who performs

signs and

wonders

the delivering

God

the providing

God

the forgiving

God

the God

who is

gracious

compassionate

and patient

the teaching

God

the good

God

the judging

God

the admonishing

God

the just

God

the remembering

God

the rewarding

God

the God

who is the

giver

of great

joy

just in the

book of

Nehemiah

this is how

Nehemiah

speaks or Ezra

speaks of

Nehemiah

of his

God

many people

would preach

to you the

book of

Nehemiah

and at the

end of it

you would

say

Nehemiah

was a

great

guy

we ought

to be

more like

Nehemiah

but I

say to

you

if that's

what we

accomplished

this summer

we failed

I failed

you

you failed

in your

listening

that's not

what we

ought to

walk away

with

we ought

to walk

away

saying

what a

great

God

Nehemiah

worshipped

and served

that's what

we ought

to walk

away

with

because we

do in

fact

serve a

great

God

and

Nehemiah

is such

a wonderful

example

of that

the things

that

Nehemiah

does in

here

are not

a response

to his

own

character

right

man that

Nehemiah

what a

hard worker

he built

a wall

in 52

days

it's not

a response

to his

leadership

ability

it's a

response

to who

his

God

was

and is

for us

that's what

caused him

that's what

motivated him

to work

to lead

in the way

that he

did

we should

walk away

from here

praising

our

great

God

thirdly

I want

to show

you the

timeliness

of these

lessons

for the

work that's

ahead of

us

as we

build a

church

to the

glory

of God

I'm going

to draw

a connection

for you

between

those two

as we

as God's

people

should

be desiring

his glory

the proclamation

of his

goodness

to us

we're building

a church

but we don't

build a church

with physical

stones

I'm not

talking about

this building

I hope

that you've

gotten that

here

that this

building

is not

the church

we're

the church

and so

we're

building up

a people

for his

praise

that is

the work

that's ahead

of us

and I

will probably

affectionately

call you

the remnant

a lot

over the

summer

we're those

that are

here now

I guess

our college

students have

been carried

off to exile

I don't

really know

if we're

going to

draw it

out quite

that far

but the

task has

been given

to us

to build

to display

God's

glory

we are

now the

visible

display

of God's

goodness

of his

character

in the

world

so there's

a great

connection

between the

two

and we can

learn and

glean so

much about

God's

character

to us

and the

work that

we ought

to be

doing

together

as we

look at

the book

of Nehemiah

first

Peter

chapter

two

Peter

speaks

of us

as

living

stones

who's

the

chief

cornerstone

Christ

right

this

this

imagery

of the

building

right

we're

chosen

and

precious

and we're

being built

up

as a

spiritual

house

it's

timely

for us

to be

studying

this

together

and

then

fourthly

I want

to exalt

the person

and the

work

of Jesus

Christ

which

all good

preaching

does

I want

to exalt

the person

and the

work

of Jesus

Christ

now

how is

it

exactly

that we're

going to

do that

in the

book

of

Nehemiah

the name

Jesus

Christ

is never

mentioned

in these

pages

don't know

he's not

on the

scene

yet

we don't

know

this

to be

the

case

turn

with

me

to

Luke

Luke 24 · chapter mention

chapter

24

I lose

men

who

stand

in

pulpits

or

given

positions

of

power

to

preach

and

they

don't

preach

Christ

they

preach

tips

for

your

life

little

ways

you

can

better

manage

your

business

we're

to

preach

Christ

verse

13

chapter

24

this

is after

the

resurrection

that

very

day

two

of

them

disciples

were

going

to

a

village

named

Emmaus

about

seven

miles

from

Jerusalem

and

they

were

talking

with

each

other

about

all

these

things

that

had

happened

when

they

were

talking

and

discussing

together

Jesus

himself

drew

near

and

went

with

them

but

their

eyes

were

kept

from

recognizing

them

and

he

said

to

them

what

is

this

conversation

that

you

are

having

with

each

other

as

you

walk

this

must

have

been

a

very

looking

back

on

it

for

them

a

very

comical

conversation

what

is this

conversation

that

you

were

having

with

each

other

as

you

walk

and

they

stood

still

looking

sad

then

one

of

them

named

Cleopas

answered

him

are

you

the

only

visitor

to

Jerusalem

who

does

not

know

the

things

that

have

happened

there

in

these

days

can you

imagine

how he

felt

after

realizing

who

he

been

talking

to

yep

a little bit

of rhetoric

there

verse 19

and he

said to

them

what

things

and they

said

to him

concerning

Jesus

of

Nazareth

a man

who

was

a

prophet

mighty

in

deed

and

word

before

God

and

all

the

people

and

how

our

chief

priests

and

rulers

delivered

him

up

to

be

condemned

to

death

and

crucified

him

but

we

had

hoped

that

he

was

the

one

to

redeem

Israel

yes

and

besides

all

this

it

is

now

and

enter

into

his

glory

so

notice

here

he

corrects

them

he

rebukes

them

he

calls

them

foolish

slow

of

heart

to

believe

all

that

the

prophets

have

spoken

and

he's

referring

here

to

everything

Old

Testament

everything

up

to

this

point

he's

saying

to

them

you

had

me

you

had

this

you

had

the

very

revelation

of

Jesus

Christ

coming

and

you've

missed

it

verse

27

and

beginning

with

Moses

and

the

things

concerning

himself

boy

I

wish

we

had

the

record

of

that

that

would

that

would

make

my

job

at

Nehemiah

a lot

easier

if I

could

have

Jesus

Christ

commentary

on

the

book

of

Nehemiah

right

a

wonderful

thing

for

some

reason

it's

excluded

here

um

dependence

on

the

spirit

so

that's

my

answer

to

that

verse

28

so

they

drew

near

to

the

village

to

which

they

were

going

he

acted

as

if

he

was

going

farther

but

they

urged

him

strongly

saying

stay

with

us

for

it is

toward

evening

and

the

day

is

now

far

spent

so

he

went

in

to

stay

with

him

when

he

was

at

table

with

him

he

took

the

bread

and

blessed

and

broke

it

and

gave

it

to

them

and

their

eyes

were

opened

and

they

recognized

him

and

he

!

said

to

!

each

other

did

not

our

hearts

burn

within

us

while

we

talked

to

us

on

the

road

while

he

opened

to

us

the

scriptures

and

they

rose

that

same

hour

and

returned

to

Jerusalem

and

they

found

the

eleven

and

those

who

were

with

them

gathered

together

saying

the

Lord

has

risen

indeed

and

has

appeared

to

Simon

and

they

told

what

had

happened

on

the

road

and

how

he

!

looked

down

at

verse

me

and

the

law

of

Moses

and

the

prophets

and

the

Psalms

must

be

fulfilled

he

said

remember

I

told

you

I

would

be

the

fulfillment

of

all

these

things

including

the

promises

in

Nehemiah

right

verse

45

then

he

opened

their

minds

!

to

understand

the

scriptures

he

opened

their

minds

!

to

understand

the

scriptures

and

recognize

the

point