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“The reforms instituted in the days of Nehemiah demonstrate the necessity of conformity to God's revealed law, the disastrous results of forsaking His Word, and the main elements involved in a true reform of worship among His people”
Genuine reform is preceded and undergirded by fervent prayer (Neh. 1: 1- 2: 8)

“Nehemiah was a contemporary of Ezra who served in the court of king Artaxerxes. The book that bears his name opens with the account of an inquiry that he made concerning the holy city and the Temple. News of the sad state of Jerusalem and its people moved the heart of this godly man to fervent prayer that God would be pleased to restore its former glory.

Prayer is a dominant theme throughout Nehemiah, as the Scriptures emphasize the relationship between God’s sovereign plan for His Church and the instrumentality of His people's faithful actions. Every genuine revival, whether during Biblical times or in subsequent history, has been preceded and undergirded by fervent prayer, as God stirs the hearts of men to urgently cry out to Him that He might glorify His name in the earth. Much may be gained by an examination of the main elements of Nehemiah’s prayer.

First, Nehemiah’s prayer begins with recognition of God's transcendent glory and covenant mercy towards those who love Him and keep His commandments...

Second, this is followed by a sincere confession of both personal and corporate guilt for failure to keep the commandments, statutes and ordinances which God plainly revealed through His inspired servant Moses…

Third, an acknowledgement is made of the solemn warning of God to scatter the people if they proved unfaithful to His ordinances, as well as His promise to restore those who returned to Him in obedience…

Fourth, it is noted that the promised restoration centered upon the place which God had chosen for the exaltation of His name, that in His pure worship the redemption accomplished by Christ might be seen…

Fifth, and finally, Nehemiah asked the Lord to prosper him in his efforts to become an instrument of reform by granting him favor in the eyes of the king…

Prayer is indispensable, but it is nothing but empty words if the pray-er is not willing to submit himself as an instrument for the accomplishment of God's glory. His subsequent interactions with both the king and the people are punctuated by prayer, showing us the necessity of this means of grace for the accomplishment of genuine reform in every age.” (Comin, 159-162)

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“In contrast to the constant trespassing of the kings and people of Judah, we are furnished with a glorious and instructive example of restoration of pure worship under the reign of Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 29. A few main points should be observed.

First, it began with the recognition that the people had trespassed against the Lord. What were the sins of the people?

1. Our fathers have trespassed [acted unfaithfully, treacherously]
2. They have done evil in the eyes of the Lord our God
3. They have forsaken Him
4. They have turned away their faces from His habitation and given Him the back.
5. They have shut up the doors of the porch-‘So He brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house; and there, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty five men with their backs toward the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the sun toward the east.’ (Ezekiel 8:16)
6. They have put out the lamps
7. They do not burn incense or present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary of the God of Israel.
Second, it involved a careful preparation, in which all of the man-made impurities (‘rubbish’) were purged from the Temple, while the neglected elements of worship were restored to their rightful place.

Third, the worship service was arranged according to God’s explicit commands (vs.25). Even the musical instruments of David were used as
prescribed, only in connection with the burnt offering (vs. 27-28), while the psalms of David continued after the sacrifice (vs.29).

Fourth, the entire service centered around the offering of the prescribed sacrifices, thus highlighting the centrality of Christ, which was obscured by all of the innovations which the kings and people had added to God’s worship.

That same centrality of Christ’s finished work is to be the hallmark of the worship of the New Testament Church. With all of the aesthetic accoutrements of the ceremonial and sacrificial system stripped away, the Church is left to behold Christ in the reading and preaching of the Word-in the singing of the Psalms-in the prayers of the saints-and in the sacraments of the New Covenant. To add once again such aesthetic elements as was necessary under the Old Covenant is to obscure the centrality of Christ just as much as the omission of these elements was during the time of their necessity. When the purity of God’s worship is restored, all human innovations give way before Christ, the Living God.” (Comin, 141-142)

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“The last two chapters of Ezra are taken up with the account of a further reformation in the midst of the people. The matter is introduced by the author with the phrase ‘After these things were done,’ which indicates that the matter addressed here followed the restoration of pure worship in Jerusalem. It was the reformation of worship which disposed the hearts of the people to be sensitive to their sins, and particularly to the way in which their violation of the law of Moses had introduced the leaven of corruption that ultimately led to the defilement of the Temple and its ordinances.

The people of Israel, as well as the priests and Levites, had not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands and had married foreign wives. The focus of the required separation was not ethnic but religious, for the author tells us that it was ‘with respect to the abominations of the Canaanites’ that this failure of separation had corrupted the people. Having reestablished the primacy of pure worship at the heart of society, the people were convicted that this influence must be forsaken and the unholy unions dissolved.

Thus, reformation of worship led to reformation of life, in order to guard against the trends which would inevitably lead back to compromise with idolatry. In Christ, a believing spouse is instructed not to divorce an unbeliever (1 Cor.7:12-15), but the principle of separation from the corrupting influence of idolatry remains (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1). Those who reverence God and His pure worship are sensible of any threat of compromise and ready to reform their lives accordingly.

Thus, the book of Ezra shows us…

1. The centrality of the temple in the worship of the saints-under the Old Covenant, the earthly temple as a type of the more perfect heavenly temple, picturing the glories to be revealed in Christ-under the New Covenant, the heavenly tabernacle, seen in the simplicity of the church’s worship.

2. The effect that genuine reformation of worship should have upon our hearts, producing a mixture of mourning over what has been lost of the glorious beauty of God in the services of His people, with a glad and exalting hope of the restoration of pure worship according to God’s perfect Word.

3. The need for careful discernment in the work of reformation, excluding every influence that tends to compromise the pure worship of God, and guarding against syncretism, or the blending of man-made worship with the worship that God has commanded in the Scriptures.

4. The necessity of a Biblical warrant for all that is done in the house of the Lord, as seen in the reiteration of the Regulative Principle of Worship by king Artaxerxes, and the emphasis throughout the book upon written authority as the basis for all that is done in the restoration of God’s worship
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5. The inescapable connection between reformation of worship and reformation of life. Worship lays the groundwork for all else, just as the second table of the law flows out of the first.” (Comin, 156-158)

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“Because of the steady departure of the people of God from true worship according to His explicit commands, and the moral decline that invariably resulted, the nation of Judah was overthrown by the Babylonians and the remnant that remained were taken captive for seventy years. At the end of that time, according to God’s promise, the remnant was permitted to return to Jerusalem.

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah record the events surrounding this return from captivity. The very first order of business upon their return was to be the rebuilding of the Temple, which God enabled by stirring up the heart of Cyrus.”

The Temple is central to God’s design for worship (Ezra 1:1-11)

“The centrality of the Temple and of the pure worship of God is at the core of Ezra’s message. The importance of the Temple lies in the fact that worship itself presupposes a Mediator between the Holy God and His fallen people. The functions of the priesthood and the symbolism of the altar all pointed to Christ and the reality of the Heavenly Temple, upon which the Temple in Jerusalem was modeled. Man cannot approach God on his own terms, but must always draw near according to God’s own provision. The corruption of worship, which included the introduction of many elements invented by the hearts of men, distorted the truth of God’s sovereignty and therefore tarnished the image of Christ so beautifully illustrated in God’s commanded worship.

Some have argued that the strictness of the regulation of Old Testament worship was the result of the nature of the worship of that period, which was outward and typical. Because the visible elements of worship pointed to Christ in specific ways, it was necessary that they be
rigidly regulated and observed. The conclusion is offered that now that the fulfillment of these outward elements has been revealed in Christ, there is no further need for strict regulation of the elements of worship. The New Testament Church is left, more or less, to its own discretion, in designing the particular elements of worship, so long as nothing is done that blatantly contradicts the broad principles of the Word of God.
This conclusion, however popular and accepted in modern evangelical Christianity, is false. The Temple remains the central focus of worship under Christ. It is not, however, the earthly temple, but the Heavenly Sanctuary, which provides the context for New Testament worship, as the Scriptures, and particularly the books of Hebrews and Revelation clearly teaches.” (Comin, 147-148)

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“Written documents play a major role in the book of Ezra. Official letters stop and start the work in the temple (4:23; 6:6-7). A letter gives Ezra authority to carry out reforms (7:25-26). The written word of God is a moving force in the narrative (3:2; 10:3). It has been noted that the significance of this theme in Ezra is rooted in the fact that the era involved is that of the last Old Testament prophets (Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi). After them, there was to be a period of prophetic silence, during which the people of God would be governed exclusively by the written word. John the Baptist would break this silence, and new revelation would once more be given through Christ and His apostles, in whom God’s definitive word for His Church would be finally completed and sealed.

Ezra himself is described as ‘expert in the words of the commandments of the Lord, and of His statutes to Israel’ and as one who ‘prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances to Israel.’ Perhaps even more striking are the words that God laid upon the heart of King Artaxerxes in his letter to Ezra. Verse 23 reads, ‘Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven.’ For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?’

That sounds like a statement of the Regulative Principle of Worship, from the pen of a pagan king-one who had been moved to realize that God was extremely jealous for the restoration of His pure worship according to His explicit commands. Once more, then, we are directed to the sufficiency and authority of the written word of God as the only rule for worship and life.

Ezra tells us that the restoration of pure worship in Jerusalem was the result of ‘the good hand of his God upon him.’ And God’s good hand moved Ezra first, to study God’s word concerning worship; second, to personally submit to it; third, to teach others. This is the calling of the Church in every age and will always be the key to her restoration.” (Comin, 155-156)

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“The record of each successive king in Judah reinforces the point that God requires complete conformity to His laws concerning worship, and blesses or judges a people on the basis of their faithfulness to Him in these matters. All else flows out of the fundamental question of whether or not the people of God will humbly submit themselves to Him in His own house. This point is further strengthened when we come to the summary of the reign of Uzziah, of whom we are told, ‘as long as he sought the lord, God made him prosper.’ Yet, like Rehoboam, it seems that pride entered the heart of Uzziah for ‘when he was strong his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar.’

John Girardeau notes, ‘God had given no warrant to a king to act as priest, and Uzziah arrogantly undertook without such a warrant, to discharge sacerdotal (priestly) functions. Azariah the priest, along with eighty other valiant priests, immediately saw the danger of this thing. They rushed in after Uzziah and ordered him out of the sanctuary, charging him with ‘trespassing’ against the Lord. In other words, Uzziah crossed the boundaries established by God. When confronted, he grew angry. After all, he was the king, and no meddling priests were going to order him around. One wonders how Uzziah would have responded to one of his own subjects who presumptuously intruded into his royal court without following the official protocol. Men of high rank expect a certain degree of decorum and respect to be paid to them by those who come into their presence. To presume to approach a king without due regard to the prescribed protocol would be universally regarded as an act of arrogant presumption. And yet men insist that they are entitled to draw near to the Holy God of heaven and earth in any way that seem pleasing to them! God backed up the priests, striking the king with leprosy for his arrogant presumption. At this, we are told that Uzziah ‘hurried to get out, because the Lord had struck him.’

The account of Uzziah is yet one more example of the principle that we have been seeking to establish: No man has the right to trespass in God’s house by adding to or taking from His commands,” (Comin, 140-141)

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“The ‘adversaries’ mentioned in verse 1 of chapter 4 were people from various places who had been transplanted into Samaria, the area north of Judah, after the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. They were a mixed multitude, who worshipped many gods and incorporated worship of the Lord into their polytheism. As such they represented the syncretistic approach to worship which had led to the corruption and judgment of God’s people in the first place. Their participation in the reconstruction of worship, therefore, would have resulted in compromise and their influence would have tended to encourage a blend of man-made elements with the commanded ordinances of God. When they were excluded from the work , they determined to oppose the people of Judah and to discourage them in their labors. This opposition reveals the self-serving attitude of their hearts-if we can’t add our bit to worship, then we will make your life difficult.

An important principle is illustrated here. Those who determine, in obedience to God’s word, to labor for the restoration of true worship will find it necessary to exercise discernment in the case of those who seek to join with them in their work. Pragmatists and compromisers, who see no problem with adding a few human innovations to the worship of God, cannot be allowed to influence the work of reformation. It is sometimes necessary to separate even from professed friends of the Church if they are manifestly opposed to the pure worship of God. If they are told that their compromising tendencies can have no place in the restoration of the Church, those who do not repent and embrace the truth may set out to discourage the work, but their success-like that of Ezra’s adversaries- will be temporary and limited.

In time, all true friends of God will be drawn to His pure worship.” (Comin, 154-155)

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“The reign of Solomon was followed by that of his son Abijah, who came under attack from jeroboam, but prevailed because he trusted in the Lord and had the true priests of God on his side. After him, his son Asa reigned in Judah. Asa was initially blessed because ‘ he did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord God.’

Negatively, he removed the foreign altars and high places, broke down the pillars and wooden images, removed Asa’s mother from her position of usurped authority and destroyed an obscene image of Asherah she had made. Positively, he commanded all Judah to seek the Lord and to observe the law and commandment, under penalty of death. He restored the altar of the Lord in the Temple, and led the people into a covenant to seek the Lord with all their heart and with all their soul. He saw a great victory against a million-man army of Ethiopians because he had confidence in the power of God to save by many or by few.

But later in his reign he lost that confidence and entered into a foolish alliance with the king of Syria for which he was chastised by the Lord. He was followed by his son Jehoshaphat. ‘The Lord established the kingdom in his hands,’ because he ‘walked in His commandments and not according to the acts of Israel.’ Israel’s acts were the acts of Jeroboam, who implemented his own time, place, manner, and authority over worship. Jehoshaphat ‘took delight in the ways of the Lord’ and sought to ensure the conformity of the people to God’s commands by sending his leaders, along with certain Levites and priests, throughout the cities of Judah to teach the law. As a result, the fear of the Lord fell on all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah and they did not make war against Jehoshaphat.’

The clear connection can be observed between conformity to God’s law of worship and the strength of a people. If the Church today is to be restored to her former strength and glory, it must begin with a reformation of worship according to God’s commands, through careful and systematic instruction leading to heartfelt obedience. But strength and glory must be understood in terms of God’s view, rather than the view of the world.” (Comin, 139-140)

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“Under the leadership of Ezra the priest, true worship was restored in Jerusalem and the reconstruction of the Temple was begun. Ezra understood that the true worship of God was foundational to the restoration of society, since man’s approach to God influences every other aspect of his thought and life. Even the fear of violence from the surrounding nations did not distract the people from their religious services, indicating the priority that was placed upon worship in their estimation (vs.3).

The restoration of true worship must be the priority of the Church if there is to be any hope of regaining her former glory and influence in the world. Worship is not a peripheral issue, but the central element of the Church’s identity and mission. Thus Ezra and the people set their hearts to restoring worship ‘according to the ordinance of David king of Israel.’

The restoration of true worship under Ezra provoked a mixed reaction among the people. The younger generation of returning captives was filled with joy at the commencement of restored worship, while the older generation wept with a loud voice because they had seen the glory of the former Temple. Their hearts were broken by the realization of what had been lost.

The restoration of true worship today should be accompanied not only by the joy that results from seeing God’s glory reestablished in the midst of the people, but also by a genuine and heartfelt sense of grief over the fact that the once-glorious worship has fallen into such a sad state of decline. This grief is a necessary part of true repentance. It should not, however, lead to despair but should give way to a lively hope that God will complete His work of restoration and glorify His name once more in the Church.

The older generation under Ezra was later rebuked for ‘despising the day of small things’ (Zech.4: 9-10). They doubted whether the former glories could ever be restored. They were assured that the eyes of the Lord rejoiced to see the work of rebuilding commence. God calls us to mourn over the results of our sin, but then to set our hearts to the task of reformation with joyful confidence in His power to complete His purposes in the midst of His people.” (Comin, 153-154)