The goal of our spiritual life is to “know the Lord” and not fight battles (Jer 9.23-24). But we are either coming into a battle, fighting a battle, or coming out of a battle, so we must be trained to fight. Part of the battle is the decision to do it, and we should consider our ways (Hag 1.7). Are we wasting our lives or are we building the house and the city of God (Ezek 13.1-8). The Scriptures liken us to a city with walls (Jer 1.18). We deliver our city by wisdom (Matt 13.45-46; Job 28.18). Song 8.8 asks if we are a wall (strong) or a door (weak). We “repair our walls” with each piece of true information we learn, and each piece is like a brick in our wall.
One of the main things Nehemiah needed to rebuild the city was water. Without water, the city would fall quickly. Spiritually, we need water; and no matter what, we should never be cut off from it. The enemy will attack us through the water, which is the Word of God (Eph 5.26). The enemy will say, “The word of God says..” when it really doesn’t say what they are teaching. We must have Da’at (knowledge of God in Torah facts) and Chachmah (wisdom of knowing what to do when you have all the facts) and drink the mayim chaim (living water) and not the “foul water” of the false teachers.
Nehemiah also rebuilt the gates of the city. The gates are the easiest way to get into a city and they must be guarded to stop an enemy infiltration. An enemy can enter the city by going over the wall, through the wall, and under the wall. Perception is how we relate to the world around us through our senses. If one of our senses is off, let’s say our eyes, then how we relate to the world will be greatly diminished. Spiritually, our gates are our senses. We need to guard them at all times. The enemy will try to penetrate our walls through our senses in what we see, smell, hear, touch and smell. We cannot let the enemy enter our walls through any of the gates of our senses.
The walls of our city allude to the knowledge and wisdom of God. They must have a solid foundation and set deep and broad on the bedrock of the Torah. Nehemiah knew it wasn’t enough to just have a wall, he needed a good wall. He also needed to take steps so that those walls could not be undermined. He took steps beforehand, not after somebody began to undermine them. Jer 50.15 says that the “walls have been torn down.” If we look at any issue there are great gaps in what is and what should be. How did Babylon’s walls fall? It was a lack of true knowledge.
There is a verse that defines how to fight spiritually. Isa 33.6 says, “And he (Messiah) shall be the stability (confidence in our walls) of your times, a wealth of salvation (“yeshua”), wisdom (chachmah) and knowledge (da’at). The fear of Yehovah is his treasure.” Now we can “rebuild” our walls (Isa 58.12, 61.4).
In the war against the Romans in the first century, the Jewish people captured heavy military artillery from the Romans. The problem was they could load it, they could fire it, but they couldn’t hit a thing. They were just throwing rocks. It’s not enough to have the artillery, you must be trained in how to use it. We must be balanced and hit the target (Isa 8.16-120).
The knowledge of God allows us to know good and evil. The wisdom of God should be balanced with our knowledge. This should increase, but the sophistication of our battles will also increase. Nehemiah didn’t build the same type of walls David did because warfare had changed. Our battles will increase proportionately, but only as God allows. God will not allow you to get “hit” at a level you are not prepared for unless you have not proceeded to the level you should be at in your walk. If you are a “child” who is in first grade but you should be in fifth grade, God will allow the adversary to hit you with fifth grade weapons. Why? Because you failed to learn the things you needed to learn.
Nehemiah had to build walls and gates that could withstand the weapons of his times, like battering rams and rock throwing machines. David did not have to contend with that when he built up Jerusalem. Apply this into your life and ask, “What is my foundation? What is my wall?” We should be building our wall and it must be tempered with chachmah or it is useless. We build our walls with what we understand (binah) about God. That is your armor and your defense (Eph 6). We have the “shield of faith” (emunah) which means “confidence in action.” Today it is defined as “whatever you want” if you believe. The more you know about Yehovah the more confidence you will have. Confidence in a battle is your shield, or walls. These will deflect the arrows and missiles of the enemy, which is untruth. If you know what you believe you can stand (Rev 2.13). Antipas refused to burn incense to the Emperor and he was roasted alive in an iron bull according to church history. What made Antipas stand? Confidence in the truth he knew was right. If we are going to pay a price, do it for the truth and for what you believe is right based on the Word of God.
Our walls cannot be your walls. You must have your own walls, shields, armor, sword, and helmet to stand by yourself. You must have your own Emunah, Da’at, Chachmah and Binah. Nehemiah knew these concepts well and so did the people. Nehemiah and the other leaders can help, but the people had to fight their own battles. In our spiritual warfare and as we build our walls, your teacher, pastor, or friends won’t be in there fighting your battles for you. It will be you and the enemy, and if you don’t know how to fight or when to “duck” behind your walls or when to “shoot” you won’t last long.
In Neh 3 we learn that the walls had towers. In spiritual warfare, what are our towers? Towers are the individual “units” we have learned. Here are a few examples of units of study, or our “towers”: knowing the Scriptures verse by verse; the Torah and how it applies to a believer in Yeshua; the dual concepts in the Torah; knowing Hebrew and/or can work in it; Jewish eschatology/prophecy; the festivals of God, the two calendars used in the Bible; biblical geography; the Temple and its services and structure; the korbanot/offerings; the priesthood and the Levites; biblical times and seasons; history; culture; spiritual warfare which is nothing likecwhat is commonly taught today. These are just a few of the units we should master. They will “overlap” and cover all the ground, with no gaps or holes when the enemy approaches our walls. This is called overlapping fields of fire. The more units you master (your towers) the better you can guard your wall at all times. You can keep the enemy from getting close to our walls and “getting in.” We have knowledge with wisdom, resulting in emunah (stability and confidence in action) as seen in Isa 33.6. Each subject we learn, we are building a tower. The tower will have overlapping fields of fire with other units of study we have mastered. If it is true, we should never abandon our towers in a battle.
A square tower was simple, and it is like learning a unit “in the rough.” A semi-circular tower was more sophisticated and it is like learning a unit of study well. The towers were built with balconies which had slots to fire straight down on the enemy. This means taking our knowledge and “extending it out” so we can use it. This is what we call application. Balconies on our towers are application. No dead ground and the enemy will pay a price if they want to get close to you.
Another way to keep the enemy away from our walls is to build a “glacis.” Nehemiah had natural valleys on three sides of the city where the enemy could not approach the walls of Jerusalem with siege engines. The vulnerable side was on the north side of the city, and north is the direction of human wisdom and intellect (south is the direction of faith, east is away from God, west is approaching God). A glacis is a steep slope up to your walls. You don’t want the enemy to be able to just walk right up to your walls.
Spiritually, a glacis can be many things. It is a “spiritual stiff arm.” How does the enemy reach us? Through jobs, finances, relationships, health, emotions, deception and more. When the enemy comes, he will come against us more than one way. He will create a diversion and he may use finances to destroy his real goal, you and your family relationships, or your health. He wants to create pressure on you to keep you away from learning the truth of the Scriptures. Just sitting, or being to busy to study, daydreaming, or being non-productive and apathetic are not good. We need to build a glacis, and what is a spiritual glacis? It is our attitude (Judges 7.5-6; 2 Tim 4.2). When we know the truth of the Scriptures, others will know because it will “project” out of us. Those who want to argue with you and “get into your walls” will find out soon enough that your walls cannot be breached, and you are too strong for their false teachings because you can counter their attacks with the truth God has shown you. They will not try to approach your city because the cost will bevtoo much (Luke 14.28-33). If our attitude fails, the enemy will get to our walls (close) and it doesn’t matter how good our wall is. If our attitude is strong we will be in a good defensive position no matter what we are faced with. The enemy is not going to get to our wall. We have an example of attitude in 2 Kings 13.14-19. The king was faint in heart so he will be faint in battle.
The better you build your attitude the better your “glacis.” Our attitude should be in line with Isa 55.8-9, where his ways are our ways, and his thoughts are our thoughts. Our walls of defense must complement one another. Amos 3.3 says, “Can two walk together without having met one another?” We must have common ground. If not, the enemy will isolate you. The things in our lives should complement each other and not work against each other. This includes our relationships, job, and what we study and ivestbour time and money in.
There is another thing we can do to keep the enemy away from our wall. We can build a “moat.” Nehemiah built a moat (Dan 9.24-27). So what does a moat symbolize? The moat is our obedience in keeping and guarding the Torah. A “keep” was part of the defense of a fort or city. Deut 28.1-14 tells us that our most important weapon is righteous behavior as defined by the Torah. A keep was a type of fortified citadel built within a fort or city where the defenders could fall back to if the walls failed. It was very well constructed, with walls, towers, and gates that were very thick. Prov 16.1 says that God calls us to prepare, but God will speak to us. So we must listen. Then our answer will come from God when the time comes.
What kind of city and walls do we want? We should want a broad (wide) wall, with crenels, which are openings to fire from on our wall. We should want embrasures, which are the solid walls between crenels to hide from enemy fire. We should want a moat that is wide and deep, a glacis to keep the enemy away from our walls. We should want catapults and top of the line weapons and towers that can go against the best the enemy can offer. But we can’t build our walls overnight. We can’t build what we need by attending meetings. We must study, learn and master the units of Scripture that God gives us. But even that is not enough. We must do it in God’s power and wisdom, and in God’s truth found in the Torah, the Ketuvim, the Prophets, the Gospels and the Epistles. We must realize that we are going to be attacked, so we must build our walls before it happens like Nehemiah did.
For a more detailed study on spiritual warfare that will be different than anything else you have ever studied on the subject, we refer you to, “The Spiritual Warrior” and ” The Spiritual Sniper” on this website.
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