Nehemiah
13:4-5 – “Now before this, Eliashib the priest, having authority over the
storerooms of the house of our God, was allied
with Tobiah. And he had prepared for him a large room, where
previously they had stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the articles,
the tithes of grain, the new wine and oil, which were commanded to be given to the Levites and
singers and gatekeepers, and the offerings for the priests.”
Nehemiah
rebuilt the walls of the city of Jerusalem.
He was burdened for a remnant who had returned from captivity and were
living in an unprotected city. Throughout the construction he was continually
maligned by his enemies. We have an
enemy who seeks our destruction. Like
Nehemiah of old, we must persevere in our assignment. When you refuse to give up, keep building,
and start to make spiritual progress the enemy uses one of his ultimate weapons.
He moves into the house of God. He decides to join us and will come into any
open door he can access.
In
Nehemiah 13:4-5, we learn the enemy had invaded the house of God in violation
of God’s law. When Satan invades the
house of God, we often allow him to stay through unholy alliances and
compromise with sin. What happened when the enemy was allowed to move into the
House of God? He was found in the storehouse
and displaced six different things. The
storehouse is important because it is the place of God’s blessing and provision
in our lives.
He
attacked six different things in the storehouse. The first is the grain
offerings. This was made up of corn, wheat, and barley. It was to be used in
the meal offerings in Temple worship. Grain was attacked because it represents communion
and fellowship with a living Savior. John 6:35, “I am the bread of life.” Satan longs to rob us of our intimacy with the
Lord Jesus Christ. We must evict the
enemy out of our grain offerings.
The
second item is frankincense. It represents
intercession and prayer. It was used in the manufacture of the pure incense to
be used in the Temple. Psalms 141:2 says, “Let my prayer be set before
You as incense, the
lifting up of my hands as the
evening sacrifice.” Frankincense represents the prayers of the saints. Satan moves into the house of God to keep us
from prayer.
The third ingredient in the storehouse is oil. The enemy steals
the oil because it represents the anointing. The enemy moved into the house to
shut down the flow of oil. Satan seeks
to rob you of your anointing to pray, worship, and complete your assignment.
The
fourth item is the new wine. It represents the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit. The new wine represents revival. In Acts 2:13, the 120 in the
Upper Room were accused of being drunk with new wine. Peter explains this
phenomenon in Acts 2:15-16, “For these are not drunk, as you
suppose, since it is only the
third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.” The enemy desires to keep us from the
latter-day outpouring of God’s Spirit.
The fifth
item is the tithe of grain. The enemy seeks to steal away your tithe and
offering. He desires to rob us of our
tithe and offerings to keep us from the increase God has promised us. Malachi
3:11 records this promise, “And I will
rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit
of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
Says the Lord of hosts.”
The sixth
item is the vessels of worship. This represents yielding our members as
instruments of righteousness. Romans 6:13 says, “and do not present your
members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God
as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
to God.”
Nehemiah
evicted the enemy out of the storehouse.
We must also evict the enemy out of our storehouse.
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