God of heaven

[Nehemiah 9:13-15a]

Christian A. Schwarz surveyed 1,000 of the healthiest growing churches in 32 countries worldwide and found eight characteristics (Internet): (1) Leadership that develops the spiritual potential of the laity, (2) Gift-oriented ministry given by the power of the Holy Spirit, (3) ‘Passionate spirituality’ rather than just fulfilling one’s religious duties, (4) Functional structure according to the mission of the church, (5) Worship that inspires the work of the Holy Spirit regardless of style and language of worship, (6) Holistic small group activities that apply the message to their specific daily lives rather than just discussing Bible passages, (7) Needs of non-believers focus on evangelism, not "manipulating", and (8) Relationships that do not talk about love, but practice Christian love.  How about our church?  In order for our church to become a healthy church established by the Lord, what our church is pursuing this year is education.  Christian Schwarz's 6th applies: ‘Holistic small group activities that apply the message to their specific daily lives rather than just discussing Bible passages.’  How do we do this?  We can think of it in two ways. (1) We must listen to God's voice.  In other words, we must be trained to listen to God's voice through His Word.  (2) We must obey the Word.  Therefore, we must eat spiritual food well and grow up to become a strong church built on the rock of Jesus.

Centering on Nehemiah 9:13-15a, I took the title of “God of heaven” and thought about what kind of God the God of heaven is in two ways, and how the church the Lord builds can become a healthy church.

First, “God of heaven” is the God who speaks with us from heaven.

Look at Nehemiah 9:13 – “You came down on Mount Sinai; you spoke to them from heaven. You gave them regulations and laws that are just and right, and decrees and commands that are good.”  God, who delivered the Israelites from Egypt through Moses, divided the Red Sea and led them to Mount Sinai.  There, God spoke with the Israelites from heaven and gave them just and right regulations and laws, and good decrees and commands (v. 13).  Why did God give the Israelites a just, true, and good commands from heaven?  The reason is because the God of heaven is just, truthful, and good.  Among those commands, if we look at verse 14, the fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exod. 20:8) is written: “…  You made known to them your holy Sabbath ….”  The key here is the fact that the God of heaven is the God who makes known His will to us through His Word.

We need to look at Exodus 19-20 to know this fact more accurately.  Look at Exodus 20:22 – “Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites this: 'You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.”  What was the reaction of the Israelites at that time?  They were afraid.  So, they wanted to hear the voice of God through Moses.  Look at Exodus 20:19 – “and said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.’”  At that time, Moses told the reason why God had descended from Mount Sinai and spoke to the Israelites.  The reason was to “test” the Israelites so that they would fear God and keep them from sinning (v. 20).

Why does God speak with us from heaven?  We can think of 3 reasons for this:

• God speaks with us from heaven to test us.

One example of this is Genesis 22. In that chapter, God tests Abraham. God calls Abraham to test him (v. 1).  Likewise, God is the God who calls us to test us.  So, we need to have the thought that we are taking God's test when we listen to God's word.  It will be one of two things: If we listen to and obey the Word, we will pass the test.  But if we disobey, we will fail.  If we pass, it is a blessing.  But if we fail, it is a punishment.

• God speaks with us from heaven to make us fear Him.

Why did God call and test Abraham?  Look at Genesis 22:12 – “’Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ he said.  ‘Do not do anything to him.  Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.’”  We must have reverence for God when we hear the word of God.  Furthermore, we should be in awe when we hear the word of God.

• God speaks with us from heaven to keep us from committing sins.

A holy God does not want us to sin.  That's why God gives us a sign like this before temptation comes and we commit sin (For example, the warning given to King Solomon, which offends our conscience).  But the clearest sign is the Word of God.  God helps us not to fall into the abyss of sin by illuminating and exposing our sins with His holy words and making it clear that they are evil.

                     Does God still speak with us from heaven like in the time of Moses?  The answer is “no”.  However, for us living in the New Covenant era, the indwelling Holy Spirit speaks to us through the Word of God.  We must listen to that voice.  The personal Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts, speaks to us, and guides our lives.  How can we hear the voice of God the Holy Spirit speaking?  How can we discern and obey God's voice?

• We must thoroughly confess that Jesus is our Lord.

• We must have faith that the Holy Spirit lives and works within us to deliver the Word of God to our souls.

There is the voice of the Lord heard during worship, listening to the Word, and praying.  God speaks to us.  Sometimes He speaks with the inspiration of the Word, sometimes with an inner voice, and sometimes with realization.  Sometimes He speaks through the voice of a person of faith, and sometimes He speaks through events.

• We must obey the word of God we have heard and act in faith.

To hear what God says to us is to listen and obey.  To disobey is to ignore what He said.  We must not quench the Holy Spirit.  When the Holy Spirit working in us is extinguished, grace and blessings are extinguished.

• We must wait for God’s time.

There is a time for everything, and God has His times and His ways.  Jesus said to pray and not give up.

• We must seek the advice of faithful friends of faith.

We need comrades of faith who will pray together, discuss religiously together, and hold on to each other in faith.  Being helpful in terms of faith is very beneficial in life and spiritual aspects (Internet).

                How should we proceed? Let's all engage in QT (Quiet Time) together. Let's all have a time of devotion! What is QT? QT is a time to meet God through His word. It is a time to hear God's voice through His word.  It's about setting aside time (quiet time, quiet place) to commune with God through His word, meditate, and apply the insights gained to enjoy the benefits of God's guidance and life transformation.  QT training can be divided into the following steps and methods: prayer and worship, reading the Bible (observing the text), meditation (interpretation), and application (practice).  As a guide for meditation, there is the SPACE method (George Muller's method): (1) S: Sins to confess, (2) P: Promises to claim, (2) A: Actions to avoid, (3) C: Commands to obey, (4) E: Examples to follow.  Ending QT with just reading the Bible and knowing God's will is not enough.  What's important is taking what we've read today, meditated on, and understood, and applying it to our daily lives—living according to the words of the Bible.  This is what we call application.  Application is the fruit of QT.  Therefore, application is crucial to the extent that we can say QT without application is not really QT.  There are three Ps in application: (1) Personal), (2) Practical, (3) Possible.  Furthermore, we should develop the habit of recording in our notes the insights and the parts that have deeply moved us from observing and meditating on the Word, as well as the aspects that should be applied to our lives.  We should also share them.  Sharing means discussing with others what we have received through QT: the messages given to us, the areas in which we need transformation, our issues, and prayer topics, as well as the grace and lessons we have received through meditation.  There are spiritual benefits that we can gain through QT: we receive God's guidance, experience spiritual growth and maturity, receive spiritual strength for a fulfilling life, find satisfaction in our souls and abundance in life, gain the ability to overcome sin, live a life that resembles Christ, and live a life within the Word, making it a living Word.

Second and last, our "God of heaven" is the God who provides manna from heaven.

Look at Nehemiah 9:15a – “You provided bread from heaven for them for their hunger, You brought forth water from a rock for them for their thirst, ….”  In the time of Nehemiah, the people of Israel are recalling the events of their ancestors during the Exodus period when they were journeying from the wilderness to the land of Canaan.  They are confessing how God provided manna from heaven when their forefathers were in the wilderness and how He brought water from a rock when they were thirsty.  Look at verse 20b: “… Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth, And You gave them water for their thirst.”  What was the manna that God provided from heaven?  We cannot know exactly what manna was.  It was something like white flakes that appeared on the ground, resembling coriander seed and tasting like honey (Exod. 16:31).  Israel could not gather and hoard manna in large quantities.  They were only supposed to collect enough for one day (vv. 12-20).  If they gathered too much out of greed and tried to keep it overnight, it would spoil; this is what manna was like.  However, there was an exception.  Since work was not allowed on the Sabbath, they had to gather enough for two days on the day before the Sabbath, and the manna collected before the Sabbath did not spoil (vv. 23-31).  Manna was heavenly food.  Ultimately, manna can only be understood as a symbolic sign of the food that God provided (internet).  The symbolic significance of this manna is none other than Jesus Christ, who becomes the bread of life.  After performing the miracle of feeding the five thousand, Jesus taught the people who followed Him that He is the bread from heaven, giving people eternal life (Jn. 6:33).  The core of His teaching is that He is the bread that came down from heaven.  Look at John 6:51 – “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”  Here, eating the bread of life means believing in Jesus Christ (v. 29).

Do you believe in Jesus Christ, who is the bread of life sent from heaven?  Do you believe that eternal life can only be obtained through faith in Jesus?  Jesus said, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst" (v. 35).  Only those who believed Jesus Christ, who is the bread of life from heaven, as their Savior and Lord receive eternal life (salvation).  Only those who believe in Jesus can enter the promised land of heaven.

Why do so many people in this world continue to spiritually hunger and thirst, wandering and searching to fill that hunger and thirst?  We are living in a time when the prophecy of the prophet Amos has come true: "Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord God, "when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord" (Amos 8:11).  Pastor Young-soo Park of Korea's Sungmoon Church once said, ‘Why do we feel so spiritually thirsty even though God's word seems more abundant than ever before?  We hear the word a lot, but Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 that the reason we wander and search in various directions is simply because believers have not staked their lives on the word.  And He specifically outlines this faith in two aspects in verse 24.  Namely, without self-denial and taking up the cross.  …   Specifically, because we have heard the word without these two things, we have heard it, but our spiritual thirst has not been quenched’ (internet).  To alleviate spiritual thirst, we must stake our lives on God's word.  We must run diligently and faithfully toward His word.  When we listen to God's word, we must approach it with a heart that denies ourselves and is willing to bear the cross.  Therefore, through obedience to the word, we not only alleviate spiritual thirst but also live a life filled with the word and the Holy Spirit.