This is Spoken Gospel.

We are dedicated to seeing 
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s 
happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel.

Let’s jump in.

Nehemiah has rebuilt Jerusalem’s walls.

He’s also rebuilt Israel’s 
purpose among the nations.

Walls don’t just protect, they separate those
inside from those outside.

Israel was supposed to be holy—
a set apart and separate people.

God uniquely loved them, so 
they were to uniquely love God.

And God’s law showed Israel how to
be distinct from the world around them.

The completed walls were a visual 
and concrete reminder of the same.

Ezra the scribe reenters the story and reads the 
books of Moses to a large assembly of his people.

This public reading of Scripture
sparks a chain reaction of Bible studies.

The people are desperate to hear what God’s law says and
what it demands of them. They want to
obey God because he has loved them.

And after reading the Law 
every day for seven days,  

the people of Israel repent for 
their failure to obey God’s laws.

Ezra leads a long public
prayer of repentance.

It recounts the entire story of God’s people, 
including how God created the universe

and called their forefather
Abraham out of the whole earth.

It continues with how God sustained them with 
food and water for 40 years in the wilderness  

and how he rescued their ancestors from 
Egypt and brought them to the promised land.

As the people of Israel hear their story,  they confess
they have consistently hardened their hearts toward God.

They admit it was their
disobedience that led to their exile.

But through it all, God was faithful, gracious, 
and long-suffering, and true to his promises.

In response to God’s love the people of Israel 
recommit to obey God and follow his law.

And Israel’s princes, priests, and rulers sign 
their names to a contract before God and Nehemiah.

With their new wall marking them off 
and God’s word ringing in their ears,  

Israel promises to distinguish themselves from 
the surrounding nations and obey their loving God.

[music]

God’s word makes us holy.

When Ezra read the story of God’s
people to Israel, they were moved

by the endless ways God had shown grace and
mercy to them throughout all their disobedience.

When we engage in the Bible, it does the same.

It convicts us, it shapes us, and 
makes us into the people of God.

And the apostle Matthew says 
that Jesus has fulfilled the law.

Hearing and believing the story and commands
of Jesus make us into God’s people.

And God has uniquely loved us in Jesus, 
we’re compelled to uniquely obey God.

Like Israel, when we hear and believe the acts 
of grace and mercy God has shown us in Jesus,  

we become more and more
God’s separate and holy people.

The good news for the consistently hardhearted is that
the story of Jesus can melt our hearts and make us holy.

What the law did for Israel, Jesus 
does for us through his Gospel.

And now as God’s holy people, we live
empowered by the Holy Spirit to lead holy lives.

We are separated people of God, living 
according to new standards of love and sacrifice.

We are not marked off by physical 
walls but by the Holy Spirit within us.

God has not changed.

But when God’s people listen to God’s word, they 
are changed from one degree of glory to the next.

May the Holy Spirit open your eyes 
to see the God who demands holiness.

And may you see Jesus as the holy one of God
who earned our holiness for us forever on the cross.