“Rally To Us There”
by Chris Simmons
Through opposition in the form of discouragement, distractions, and lies, the enemies of God’s people did everything they could to hinder and thwart the Jews’ efforts to not only rebuild the temple but also the walls of the city. Through the leadership of men such as Nehemiah, who helped to instill “a mind to work” (Nehemiah 4:6), they were able to overcome many of their enemies’ relentless efforts. Even when their enemies continued to conspire together to come and fight against them, they continued to devote themselves to prayer and to the support and encouragement of one another. However, their work to defend themselves while continuing to build would cause them to be temporarily separated from one another and Nehemiah exhorted them in Nehemiah 4:20, “at whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.” That is, whenever there was a need due to an attack or situation of imminent danger, someone was to sound the alarm and everyone else was to coming running to that place. The word “rally” in the NASV, NKJV and ESV comes from the Hebrew word qabats which simply refers to a gathering, assembling, or “summoning of people together to a central location” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words).
Though we are not building literal walls, as those in the days of Nehemiah, we are fighting a common enemy as they were. We need to appreciate the need to sound the alarm when our adversary is assaulting us in order to rally together to stand united in opposition. In I Peter 5:8, Peter portrays our adversary as one who “prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” We are in a fight for our spiritual lives (I Timothy 1:18; 6:12) and if we fail to rally together and support one another in this fight, souls will end up being lost.
The danger of a spiritual attack by our adversary is the reason the Hebrew writer wrote what he did in Hebrews 10:23-25, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” The command to assemble together is not just to give us boxes to check off of what we did, but for the very reason that Nehemiah exhorted the Jews to “rally together” – that is, to encourage and support our brethren and to stand opposed against our common enemy so that we may “hold fast … our hope without wavering.”
Our enemy, Satan, is mounting increasingly aggressive assaults against Christians and the Lord’s church today. For that reason, we must be clear about our accountability before God and the standards He expects us to maintain. To that end, we have planned a special series of lessons on the subject of divine authority beginning the week of June 7th and we are sounding the trumpet for all of our brethren to “rally to us there” to help stand united in our battle against our adversary the devil. If we do so as one, we can know that “our God will fight for us” too. But what will be the outcome if the trumpet is sounded and but a few “rally to us there”?
Our efforts the week of June 7th are to help each one of us to “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might” and to “put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil” because “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:10-13). If we will gather together and put on our armor, we are promised that we will be able to “resist” and “stand firm.”
The trumpet is being sounded, will you rally to us there?