"So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul, in fifty-two days." Nehemiah 6: 15. We read both Ezra and Nehemiah are concerned with the conclusion of the captivity.

The seventy years of exile came and went and the Babylonian empire gave place to the Persian empire. It was Cyrus, the Persian, who freed the captives so that the Jews were able to go home. That historical development gave rise to the pioneers. As the captivity had taken place in three stages, so did the return. Yet only a small number of Jews responded. The majority, it seemed, enjoyed life in Babylon. But a remnant returned to rebuild the wastes in their ancestral homeland. Nehemiah was a statesman, a highly placed court Jew in Persia who in just seven weeks finished what seemed an almost impossible task. Nehemiah was a clever and capable organizer. It was imperative that the work be carried out with the utmost urgency so that the enemies might not have enough time to organize too formidable a resistance. Nehemiah's plan brought forty-two different work parties and each worked on the section of the wall nearest to where he lived.

It all sounds so easy but nothing goes on for God in this world that Satan does not actively oppose, and he is a resourceful foe. If one tactic does not succeed in stopping the work, he'll try another! There was opposition from without; scorn, force and guile. There was opposition from within; rubbish, fear and greed. "What do these feeble Jews?" But when they saw that scoffing failed to hinder the work, they resorted to more active means. Mutual enemies became mutual friends in opposing the work. Soon all joined forces against the Jews. Some of the more wealthy Jews were exploiting their weaker and poorer brethren and this came closer to disabling the work than had anything else. If Satan cannot destroy a revival by opposition from without, he will try to disable it from within by stimulating the natural selfishness of the human heart, even the heart of the brother in Christ.

On the one hand we see a great work of construction, but rebuilding the wall against the foe was only part of Nehemiah's task. There was a greater work of consecration. Nehemiah joined forces with Ezra the scribe to ensure that a work of lasting grace be done in the hearts of the people. So Nehemiah brought in the Bible teacher and we are told, "Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people". The walls of the city were finally dedicated. The Temple worship was put back into good order and then Nehemiah turned his attention to the serious lapses of godly order which had crept in during his absence.

The book of Nehemiah stands in the Bible as a permanent rebuke to those who imagine that any kind of organization of God's work is wrong. Spirituality plus organization plus hard work all played a part in Nehemiah's success. And successful he was! It shows what can be done when God's people are a praying people and a planning people and a productive people. A revival is only as strong, after all, as the work it accomplishes in the hearts of men and women. We can do all the building we want, but if the heart is not right, then nothing will last. When hearts are stirred, consciences are open, sins are confessed, tears are shed, joy fills the heart and wrongs are righted. The work then is undergirded by the Word of God. That is revival. Revival is not thrills and chills and babblings and boastings. Revival is getting right with God, individuals, communities, a whole nation. It is what the world needs to see today.