“Jesus, the Name above any other name…”
Introduction:
“Jesus, the Name above any other name…”
Earlier this year we had spent some time in a previous devotional looking at lyrics to the song ‘Build my life’. We are revisiting this song this week, looking at more Biblical truths from the lyrics. Unity as a church body and opening ourselves up for what God has for us, have been key themes over the last few months.
The questions we need to continually ask ourselves as we navigate these themes are:
What are we uniting around? Who are we united under?
There is an eye-opening example from scripture that helps answer these questions and beautifully illustrates what it looks like when our unity is focused in the wrong direction vs. the right direction. Let’s dive in!
Devotional:
The setting is Jerusalem…many Israelites have returned from a long period of captivity and exile. The remnant that returns is now tasked with rebuilding. Rebuilding the temple, reestablishing the law and rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Our focus picks up in the book of Nehemiah.
Nehemiah persevered despite severe opposition and has led the people in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. One of the first things that happens right after the walls are rebuilt is a profound moment of unity among the people…
And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. 2 So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. 3 And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. 4 And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. -Nehemiah 8:1-4a ESV
What do we see here? The people have just completed a long and strenuous building project. They could easily celebrate and praise their accomplishment…the work of their own hands. But that’s not what we see. We see the people…gathered as ‘one man’…and they tell Ezra to bring the Book of the Law of Moses and read to the entire assembly from early morning til midday. We also see this a couple verses down…
the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. 8 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly,[b] and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. – Nehemiah 8:7b-8 ESV
What does Israel unite around? They unite around the Word of the Lord. The Levites come alongside the people. They make sure the reading is clear and ensure the people understand! While Israel will have failures, even later in the book of Nehemiah…in this moment they are united ‘as one man’. Not to boast about their accomplishment…but to focus their hearts on the law of God. In this moment, they have understanding and acknowledge the author of their story.
This passage by itself is a great example of Biblical unity and we could just leave it at that…but what is easy to miss in this passage is a Biblical ‘hyperlink’ that connects this story with a much earlier story…
This ‘hyperlink’ comes in the first sentence of verse 4.
4 And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform (Hebrew: Migdal) that they had made for the purpose. – Nehemiah 8:4a ESV
The Hebrew word that is translated as ‘platform’ (that is the wooden platform Ezra stands on to read the Law) is the word ‘Migdal’. ‘Migdal’ in Hebrew is more often translated as ‘tower’. The first time we see this word used in the Bible is in Genesis 11. The story should be familiar…so let’s ‘click’ on this hyperlink!
Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower (Migdal) with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower (Migdal), which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused[a] the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. -Genesis 11:4-9 ESV
Using our Hebrew hyperlink ‘Migdal’…we are connected back to another familiar building project. Interestingly enough, there is unity here…’Behold, they are one people’. But unity with the wrong focus. ‘Let us make a name for ourselves’.
The parallels and contrasts between these two passages are unmistakable!
| Babel (Genesis 11) | Jerusalem (Nehemiah 8) |
| Built a city and a ‘migdal’ (tower) | Built a city and a ‘migdal’ (platform) |
| United as ‘one’ verse 6 | United as ‘one’ verse 1 |
| Focus: ‘let us make a name for ourselves’ | Focus: God’s Word, God’s Name at the center |
| Confusion | Understanding |
| From unity to dispersion | From dispersion to unity |
Genesis 11: A people, united as one…gather to build themselves a city and a ‘migdal’ with it’s top to the heavens. To make a name for themselves.
Nehemiah 8: A people, united as one…gather to build themselves a city and a ‘migdal’. But this ‘migdal’ is not built up with it’s top to the heavens…it is built for a very different purpose. It is built as a humble wooden platform among the people…where Ezra the priest reads God’s Word aloud. God’s Word, God’s Name at the center.
What do we take away from this?
-Unity can be destructive or it can be healing
-The key is this: What are we uniting around? Who are we united under?
-Are we focused on our own wants, desires, fame and glory?
-Or are we focused on submitting ourselves to God’s Word. Trusting His plan. Dying to self. Focused on His fame and glorifying His Name.
Finally, may our unity drive us. Not to be dispersed in confusion as the people of Babel, resulting in fractured nations. But may we be dispersed as in the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). Gathered as one body in understanding…ready to take the gospel of Jesus Christ outside the walls of our building into a broken world…to bring the nations back. Babel is reversed!
“Jesus, the Name above any other name. Jesus the only one who could ever save”
“I will build my life upon your love, it is a firm foundation. I will put my trust in you alone and I will not be shaken”
“Show me who you are and fill me with your heart, and lead me in your love to those around me”
Sean Wagner