Ben Zornes, Author at Ben Zornes

The Potter at the Wheel

by Ben Zornes · May 4, 2026

A potter at the wheel skillfully shapes the clay. It goes from a nondescript lump to slowly transforming into something resembling a vessel. But just as you think it is taking its final shape, the potter often surprisingly presses or squishes or squeezes the clay. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what the correct term is! But what looked one way a moment ago suddenly becomes something entirely different.

The Bible tells us story after story of God laying hold of the way things are, tearing it apart, and making something new. The word translated as covenant literally means “to cut.” God grasps us in our baptism in order to tear us away from the old man which we were covenantally joined to in Adam, making us a new creature in Christ by means of a new and gracious covenant. God took a fistful of dirt and turned it into our first father. In baptism God takes the dead children of Adam, and reshapes them into a new creation. This is entirely a gracious act by our God, which we are to receive the only way we can: by faith alone.

So welcome our sister to Jesus Christ…

Wise Master Builder #18 | A Tightrope

by Ben Zornes · May 4, 2026

Introduction

A tightrope routine only works if the line is securely fastened between two poles which stand opposite each other. The Christian life has many such tensions. One in particular is brought into view by this text. On one side we have the joy of God’s gracious forgiveness of all our sins, on the other we have the godly sorrow which our sin should bring about. If you detach from one pole you end up with glib antinomianism. If you detach from the other you end up as a paranoid legalist. The options seem to be Joel Osteen or Amish. The Christian life needs the line between these two truths to be taut.

The Text

Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them. And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God. […]
Nehemiah 9:1ff

Summary of the Text

After the observance of the Feast of Booths (Tishri 15-22, Cf. Neh. 8:15-17), the people assemble once more for a day of fasting (v1, Tishri 24). This was to be a solemn day of getting right with God.

A group of eight Levites (vv4-5a) offer a prayer of repentance (vv5b-37). There is a striking counterpoint in this prayer between “they” and “thou” (especially in v26 & v31). This prayer traces the history of God’s kindness as seen in His covenant making. It begins with creation and then continues through three principle covenantal high points: Abram, Moses, then the prophets (vv6-15). God’s covenant faithfulness is set in contrast with Israel’s many abuses of that kindness (vv16-29). God demonstrated staggering forbearance towards Israel (vv30-31).

The prayer then turns to petition God to remember them in their current affliction. This spirit of contrition before God is wonderfully summed up in verse 33, “Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly.” Though they don’t deserve it, they ask God to, once more, deliver them (vv32-37). This deliverance is requested in order that the people might serve God (v36). The fruit of the land has enriched the pagan kings and rulers which God has set over them as their judgement, but this arrangement is a great distress (v37). The people renew covenant with God, sealed by the princes, Levites, and priests, the terms of the covenant are found in the next chapter (v38).

A Time to Weep

The joyful feasting in the last chapter, and the mournful fasting in this appear to be at odds. The people were cut to the heart and wept, and Nehemiah told them to dry their tears and have a party. But now, after the week of the celebratory Feast of Booths, we have a day set aside for mourning and confession of sin. So, which is it? Notice how Nehemiah and Ezra lead the people to lead their emotions. After nearly two weeks of feasting, one day is set aside for sorrow. This day of confession was quite needful, but the train of emotions were set on the rails of God’s Word.

During the hardscrabble days of America expanding her frontiers, revival meetings became a feature of the religious life of our country. That has been with us ever since. Those camp meetings often focussed on exciting a crowd to emotional response. This response became a proof of a Spirit-born revival. The furniture of the church was no longer just a font, a table, and a pulpit, there was an anxious bench added to the sacred furniture. The anxious bench famously became the spot where folks were invited, nay cajoled, by all means of dramatic flourishes from revival preachers to “close with God” or else fall into eternal damnation.

This approach is quite out of step with the example we see here (and elsewhere) in scripture. We really do need to sorrow over our own sins and those of our fathers. But we need to recognize that one of those sins, particularly for Americans, is feral emotionalism. Ezra’s example is quite the antidote to the aforementioned feral emotionalism. He gives the eight Levites a well-prepared prayer to lead their respective groups through. This prayer formed rails to keep the steam engine of the people’s emotions moving to an appropriate end. Godly sorrow leads to repentance. Worldly sorrow no matter how loudly it might flail and wail, does not lead to true reformation. There is a strong cord here that holds this prayer of sorrowful repentance together with the joyful feasting.

Covenant Renewal

So, consider what stands between both those two polls. It is the covenant making of God. Jehovah’s covenant faithfulness runs like a vein of gold through this prayer. This solemn day was done at the culmination of the Feast of Booths (Cf. Ezra 3:4) which was a feast that not only anticipated Christ’s incarnation, but what the incarnation would bring about: the outpouring of the Spirit. The custom was for all the worshippers to go with their torches to obtain fire from the altar in order to illuminate their own tabernacles. The Spirit comforts you with the assurance of God’s grace to you, and the Spirit convicts you of your sin bringing about godly sorrow. These things are held together by the objectivity of the covenant. God’s covenant is gracious and full of tender-mercy. Christ drank up the cup of wrath. This being the case, in the words of Paul, should we sin so that grace may abound?

This is an opportune moment to comment on what we mean when we describe our worship service as a Covenant Renewal service. Our service to God in our corporate worship is founded on the gracious covenant that God has made with us through Christ. This covenant holds out two things to you: God is more merciful to you than you could ever imagine, and thus sin must not find any footing within your life and must be confessed.

Why do we set aside a time each week to confess our sins? It isn’t to store up your sins and only confess them when the pastor invites you to kneel. Rather, we should think of it as a time for God to uncover anything we have either been overlooking or deliberately hiding. This should be a daily habit, and our confession in our service serves as the headwaters of that river of quick confession of our sins. Habit does not mean unspiritual. When done in faith, it really serves to guard us from being manhandled by our fickle emotions.

Thus, covenant renewal becomes for us the steady support for our joy in God’s forgiveness on one side, and our honest sorrow over our sin. This keeps us steady, for as the Word says elsewhere, “Let God be true, and every man a liar.”

Reminding God

God always deals with His people via covenant. He has solemnly bound Himself to us and there are accompanying blessings and curses. The prayer found here relies on the covenant blessings and curses outlined in Leviticus 26. Ezra’s prayer here reminds God of His covenant promises, and pleads with Him to make good on those promises, although the people had sinned against Him repeatedly.

Each Lord’s Day we are seized by God’s summoning Word. We are cut with the knife of the Spirit’s convicting use of the Word. We are cleansed by the clean water of the Word preached. We are brought to a feast table to commune with the God who made us His. We are commissioned anew to take dominion of this earth, subduing it to the reign of Christ. This really is the high point which orders our entire life. Here our joy in God’s tender-mercies towards us, and our sorrow over how we have not been faithful to honor Him rightly are held steadfast in perfect tension by His covenant Word to us.

That Word is summed up in the words from this prayer: thou art a gracious and merciful God. Because He has bound Himself to you in Christ, you can rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Because He dwells in You by His Spirit, you can rightly mourn over your sins. Because of this covenant you can serve Him rightly by walking daily in this solemn joy of this covenant of grace.

Charge and Benediction

Your whole life needs to rest, by faith, on the solid and immovable covenant of grace which God brought you. That covenant allows both your joy in sins forgiven and your grief over your sins to be rightly situated.

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26

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Wise Master Builder #17 | The Foolishness of Preaching

by Ben Zornes · Apr 27, 2026

Introduction

Culture is downstream from the deity of that culture. Take a short detour with me to Narnia. Remember the Calormenes? They’re described as “grave and mysterious”. Remember their god, Tash? He’s a walking nightmare.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE TREES ON THE far side of the clearing something was moving. It was gliding very slowly Northward. At first glance you might have mistaken it for smoke, for it was gray and you could see things through it. But the deathly smell was not the smell of smoke. Also, this thing kept its shape instead of billowing and curling as smoke would have done. It was roughly the shape of a man but it had the head of a bird; some bird of prey with a cruel, curved beak. It had four arms which it held high above its head, stretching them out Northward as if it wanted to snatch all Narnia in its grip; and its fingers—all twenty of them—were curved like its beak and had long, pointed, bird-like claws instead of nails. It floated on the grass instead of walking, and the grass seemed to wither beneath it.

But what about the people of Aslan? Free, friendly, lighthearted.

Most of them had legs bare to the knee. Their tunics were of fine, bright, hardy colours — woodland green, or gay yellow, or fresh blue. Instead of turbans they wore steel or silver caps, some of them set with jewels, and one with little wings on each side of it. A few were bare-headed. The swords at their sides were long and straight, not curved like Calormene scimitars. And instead of being grave and mysterious like most Calormenes, they walked with a swing and let their arms and shoulders go free, and chatted and laughed. One was whistling. You could see that they were ready to be friends with anyone who was friendly and didn’t give a fig for anyone who wasn’t. Shasta thought he had never seen anything so lovely in his life.

Here in Nehemiah we find the beginning outlines of what a Christian culture looks like.

The Text

Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed, That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many. […]
Nehemiah 7-8

Summary of the Text

Having completed the walls, Nehemiah finishes the project by installing doors (v1, Cf. 6:1), organizing porters, arranging the choir rehearsals, delegating certain governmental duties to both his brother Hanani and (confusingly) Hananiah (perhaps a captain of the temple guard) (v2). Nehemiah gives the gatekeepers instructions which indicate Jerusalem was still in danger from her enemies (v3). God placed it in Nehemiah’s heart (v5) to take a roll call of the exiles, using the list found in Ezra 2 as his reference point (vv4-73).

The wall is finished, but this reckoning of people reminds us that God is building a house for His name out of people. Ezra returns to the narrative, and once more that remarkable man presides over a wonderful moment of the story God was telling. How will God build this house made of people? From morning until midday, Ezra reads the Law of Moses to the assembled body of saints (vv1-3).

This text brings a now familiar sight before us: a preacher standing at a wooden pulpit, book opened, the people standing eager and attentive, a word of blessing, shouts of “Amen”, lifted hands, bowed heads, ministers at the ready to explain the meaning (vv4-8). Nehemiah (the kingly figure) with Ezra (the priest), along with the Levites join in a prophetic task: teaching the Word (v9). This Word cut the people, bringing them to tears (v9). But Nehemiah proclaims that this day was a holy day, and thus mourning was out of place, instead a feast should be observed. The reason for this feast? The joy of the Lord is your strength (vv9-12). So they have a merry potluck because they understood the Word (v12).

On the second day, (the 2nd of Tishri) they come across the description of the Feast of Booths (Lev. 23:33-43) which was to begin on the 15th of Tishri (vv13-14). Part of that celebration, according to Deuteronomy’s ordinance for it, was that every 7th year the Torah should be read (Deu. 31:10–13). The people took action to prepare for that feast (vv15-16), and observed it with great joy (v17). This hadn’t been done for 900 years, since the time of Joshua (v17). This feast anticipated the desire of Yahweh to tabernacle with His people, and it shouldn’t sneak past our attention that here they kept the feast principally by attending to the Word (v18, 1 Cor. 5:8). You can see the Incarnation of the Word from here.

Not Like the Scribes

Ezra instituted within the life of Jews the continual reading of the Torah each Sabbath in all the synagogues. Remember that very few Jews actually returned to the land (roughly 50,000); but this diligent reading of the Word became the norm within the life of the synagogues of the scattered Jews. This custom is seen during Jesus’ ministry when he read from Isaiah in His home synagogue of Nazareth (Cf. Lk. 4). Though this custom of reading the Word, which Ezra began, was wonderful it slowly became anemic. The cause was scribes who preached without authority, like “schoolboys reciting their lessons”. When Jesus comes along, the people found His ministry remarkable for his authoritative preaching.

What Ezra began with his scribal schools was not a glorified OT trivia club. Remember he recruited Levites to assist him in his main project. And here we see it in action. The Word read and explained in order that God’s people might understand it and live in the glorious light of it. Ezra, if you’ll recall, “had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments (Ezra 7:10).”

Christ perfectly knew the will of God, and delighted to do it, “Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest (Ps. 40:7-9).” Jesus comes along and proclaims the kingdom of God had come, a kingdom where hearts would be renewed by His Spirit to not just parrot the commandments of God, but a delighted joy in doing them.

Think of the suitor who daydreams about ways to show his love to the girl he is sweet on. His heart is captured, and so he tries to think up every way in which he can shower her with good gifts. He is smitten, and so he ditches everything she might be offended by. To please his beloved is all he thinks about. This is the new thing which Jesus brings into the world. New hearts, alive with love to the God who graciously set His love upon us.

Eat the Fat

We’re not told what text so provoked the people to tears, perhaps the mere totality of the weight of it all, or perhaps the was something more specific. One possibility is that some of the laws which immediately precede the instructions of the Feast of Booths regards the marriage laws for the Priests and their children. Priests and their sons were only to “take a virgin of his own people to wife (Lev. 21:14).” Also, if a priest’s daughter married a foreigner she was cut off from the priestly line (Lev. 22:12).

Consider that two of Nehemiah’s principle enemies are intermarried with the High Priest. Sanballat’s daughter was married to the High Priest Eliashib’s grandson (Neh. 13:28). Tobiah (likely a wealthy half-Jew himself) was “allied” (קָרוֹב lit. kinsman) to Eliashib; this strongly implies that he had married into the High Priest’s family.

Whether these texts or others, we see that the Law performed its purpose in cutting the people to the heart, convicting them of their sin. But Ezra and Nehemiah’s response to the tears of the people is a bit surprising. Eat, drink, be merry. Not because tomorrow you die. But because they had been made to understand the declared Word.

A Christian Culture

So we come back to what we began with. What sort of culture does the Living Word of Christ beget? What sort of kingdom is Christ King of? Is it full of dour faced grumps? Is it full of self-righteous legalists? Is it full of insecure puppies, scared that their master will kick them again? Is it full of pupils trying to appease a strict professor?

Paul tells us that the preaching of the Gospel is foolishness (1 Cor. 1:18-31). Why is it so foolish to the wise of this world? Because it tells repentant sinners that their sins, every last one, is forgiven and forgotten. It tells those who were once God’s enemies that they are now His adopted sons and daughters. Those who once were to be paid the wages of their sin are now offered an inheritance of everlasting life in the heavenly Kingdom of God.

Does the Law cut and convict? Most certainly, and this is a glorious good. For along comes the Gospel and says, “Dry those tears, and come to this merry feast of bread and wine!”

Charge and Benediction

If your sins are forgiven, really forgiven, you can live in true liberty. You can truly be merry and joyful, because the Word of Christ has been proclaimed to you and you have, by grace, been made to understand it.

Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Hebrews 13:20-21

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Wise Master Builder 16 | Fifty-Two Days

by Ben Zornes · Apr 20, 2026

Introduction

This chapter is remarkable for two reason. First, the threats and schemes against Nehemiah and the work of rebuilding the walls are manifold. Second, none of them work, and Nehemiah succeeds in rebuilding Zion’s walls in fifty-two days.

The Text

Now it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;) That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?
Nehemiah 6:1ff

Summary of the Text

As the breaches in walls were closed, and their height was restored, word spread to the enemies that the rebuilding was nearing its completion, with only the gates still needing doors (v1). Sanballat invited Nehemiah to Ono with a pretext of making peace, but Nehemiah discerned that an assassination plot was behind these repeated invites (vv2-4). Nehemiah declined these flattering but devious invites, keeping the great work central (v3).

A fifth message from Sanballat arrived in the form of an open letter full of slander, misrepresentations, and false testimony (vv5-7). The aim was clearly to stir rumors and thus trouble Nehemiah in the work, and make everyone around Nehemiah “lean away”. Nehemiah denied these rumors which are clearly the result of Sanballat’s overactive imagination (v8). These attacks found some vulnerabilities, and at least some of the saints grew afraid, and so Nehemiah calls on the Lord to strengthen his hands (v9).

Next a prophet (Shemaiah), feigning sickness, suggests to Nehemiah that due to the danger they should flee to the temple (v10); King Uzziah had once trespassed into the temple, and was struck with leprosy for his impudence (2 Chr. 26:16). Shemaiah’s counsel reveals to Nehemiah that he was a prophet “on the take”, and not from God (vv12-13). His reply to this plot intended to compromise him should sink into each of our hearts: Should such a man as I flee (v11)? Or to put it in terms our Mexican brethren would understand, “No way, Jose!” This, too, leads Nehemiah to prayer, asking God to bring the schemes of these wicked men and women (the prophetess Noadiah by name) to nothing, since they attempted to quail the courage of God’s people (v14)

Nevertheless, the wall was completed in fifty-two days, causing great dismay amongst the Jews’ enemies (vv15-16). Though the wall was completed, there was another danger to be dealt with within the walls. Tobiah, the High Priest’s son-in-law, fostered the fellowship of the grumpy muffins (vv17-19). This discontent was principally amongst the elite. Nehemiah had shaken things up, and the elite preferred the status quo that Tobiah offered them, and thus they willingly joined in attempting to intimidate Nehemiah (v19).

A Great Work

It should never catch you off guard that both in our corporate efforts of advancing the Kingdom of God, and in our individual lives, opposition always arises. For instance, when you try to overcome a sinful habit, you should not be surprised that almost immediately there is a strong temptation to that sin. Say a scrawny fellow, the sort that has to run around the shower to get wet, gets it in his mind to finally work out. If he goes to the gym and a trainer begins handing him weights, he shouldn’t be surprised. Rather, strength is built through such opposition. Faith is strengthened by trusting God despite what our eyes see or our ears hear or our heart feels. Temptation is overcome by resisting it, and replacing it with righteous desires.

We all have been called, in various capacities, to a great work. Christians are called to work towards the fulfillment of the Great Commission. This local body is called to see to it that we fulfill all the “one another” imperatives. Each family is full of various duties of provision, nurture, forgiveness, and so on. Every one of us is duty bound, as individuals, to “follow hard after God” while His right hand upholds us (Ps. 63:8). All this together is a great work undertaken for the glory of God. It should not surprise you to find that there is opposition to these godly duties.

The opposition that Nehemiah encounters can be divided into two sets of two. One set is external threats, the other is internal. Let’s consider all four in turn.

Negotiating with Terrorists

First, notice that Sanballat and Tobiah apparently had a good thing going and Nehemiah’s work was messing that all up. The slave trade, the usury, the marriages between saints and sinners were all threatened by this new arrangement. So, Sanballat invites Nehemiah four times to come to Ono for a consultation. The project was moving forward rapidly and Nehemiah is tempted to seek the favor and blessing of those who hated him while also abandoning his post. These threats had once worked (Ezra 4:24), and Sanballat clearly hoped it would work again.

Think of how many Christian organizations have been hijacked by trying to appease progressive demands and sensibilities. This play is often effective. You are made to think that unless you appease this powerful person and retain their good favor you will not be able to succeed. This is what corporate HR thrives on. This is also what manipulative relatives thrive on as well. They want you to second guess your biblical commitments. Think of the Grandma that objects to you spanking her angelic grandchild; if you give in to her sentimentality you are abdicating your duty and only ensuring that the little angel becomes a fallen one!

Gashmu Saith it

On the fifth attempt, Sanballat writes an open letter, and gets Gashmu to corroborate the accusation that Nehemiah was too high and mighty for his own good. This is a common argument from unbelievers, “You Christians want to tell everyone how to run their life! You think you’re better than everyone.” This is readily apparent in that they accuse us of plotting some Handmaid’s Tale dystopia, when in fact it is gay men that are the ones renting poor women’s wombs. As Nehemiah responds, so should we, “You have a very active imagination!”

False Prophets On the Take

Next we see the first internal threat. Shemaiah, a so-called prophet, tried to convince Nehemiah to heed to his superficially pious counsel of fleeing for safety into the temple. But he did this in order that he could publicly reproach Nehemiah (Cf. Deu. 32:36). False prophets are willing to say anything for the right price. They might feign righteous counsel but the real question is whether their counsel leads you nearer to the work God has assigned you, or does it distract you from that work? False prophets don’t want you righteous, they want to reproach you, often for their own gain. There is a real blight amongst Christians of chasing summer camp highs, or finding an answer in the latest guru book, or hearing the latest gossip. Come to this conference. Read this book. Don’t miss the next episode.

Don’t Rock the Boat

Tobiah was well-entrenched amongst the elite. Nehemiah’s coming really threatened to interrupt the good thing they had going. Oftentimes, when a couple is having marriage troubles, and one spouse really gets serious about living for God the other spouse resents this. They liked having things to hang over the other. When revival comes it upsets our way of doing things. Thus, those who have something to lose due to such a revival will begin all manner of gossip and slander in order to get you to cave. When you think everyone is talking about you it can be quite frightening, but if you haven’t sinned, and you’re busy doing what God has commanded you in His word, what do you have to dread?

The Wall

This moment is not reckoned amongst the great miracles of the Bible, but it really is the highpoint of this period of redemptive history. Despite the early discouragement of God’s people (Ezra 4), even though grievous sins of the people were brought to light (Ez 7 and Neh. 5), although all sorts of threats and stratagems had been made against them, we read this understatement: so the wall was finished. It took them fifty-two days.

There are great comforts here. Have you dilly-dallied in your pursuit of the work God has called you to? Have you been intimidated, compromised, or cowed? Have you sinned greatly? Look what God does for sinful men: He raised up man of comfort to raise the surrounding fortifications. God surrounded you on all sides by the towers and buttresses of the precious blood of Christ. You are in Christ. You are within those holy walls. You dwell within those palaces of Zion.

You might have made slow progress thus far in your fight against some sin. You may think your marriage is beyond repair. You may tremble at the threats, slander, and temptation of your enemies. Look what great things God accomplished for His people through the determined faith of Nehemiah, the man of comfort. You have a better Nehemiah, a better Comforter, that dwells in you. So, if you are wallowing in a puddle of despair, be comforted with this word: “The walls were rebuilt in fifty-two days.”

Charge and Benediction

You have a great work ahead of you. Don’t put it off. Don’t listen to Gashmu’s slander. Keep stacking the bricks, and trust in the God who surrounds His people with walls of redeeming grace.

On the Rock of Ages founded,
what can shake thy sure repose?
With salvation’s walls surrounded,
thou may’st smile at all thy foes.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21

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Wise Master Builder #15 | Usury

by Ben Zornes · Apr 13, 2026

Introduction

A wonderful meal prepared with finesse will be useless if E. coli has infected all the dishes. A strong wall is useless if the people within it turn into zombies. Nehemiah finds that while some aspect of the efforts to restore Jerusalem were glorious, there was a moral contagion that would damn the whole project.

The Text

And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, [are] many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live. Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. […]
Nehemiah 5:1ff

Summary of the Text

The previous chapter detailed a courageous effort to thwart the threats of attack launched by the Jews’ enemies. But while their vigilance had been successful in driving away external enemies, we find a parasite within. The effort to restore Jerusalem had likely drawn people away from their primary vocations; couple this with the various enemies, robbers, and environmental difficulties and you find that the Jews were in a true time of economic hardship. This brought to light a new danger for God’s people in their work of restoration. A cry comes to Nehemiah, principally from a group of wives, accusing their brother Jews of exploiting their fellow Jews (vv1-5). These poorer Jews had mortgaged their ancestral lands to richer Jews in order to simply buy food. But as debt often does, they kept digging a deeper hole and ended up selling themselves to their brethren, who then sold them to the Gentiles, and just to make matters even worse some of those Jewish slaves were now being sold back to wealthy Jews (vv5,8).

When this all is brought to Nehemiah, he is understandably angry (v6), and the heat of his anger motivates him to devote that energy to a righteous resolution in rebuking the wealthy in front of a gathered assembly (vv7-8). The exploitation of these wealthy men revealed a lack of fearing the Lord and left the community in danger of being reproached by their enemies (v9). Nehemiah could have used his position for this, but he hadn’t done so and compels these men to do the same by refraining from this usury (v10). He then insists that they make things right, which they agreed to by solemn oaths administered by the priests (vv11-12). Nehemiah uses the imagery of shaking out his robes to symbolize what ought to happen to any who did not follow through on this promise of restoring what they had robbed from their poorer brothers, to which the entire congregation replied, “Amen” (v13)!

Nehemiah then divulges that during his tenure as governor of Jerusalem he refrained from taking advantage of the perks of his position (vv14-18). Though he could make a lawful claim on such tribute and taxation to provide for the needs of his household of 150 (plus frequent guests), he instead used his own wealth to pay for it all. He explains his rationale for not making use of his power of taxation: the bondage was heavy upon the people (v18). He then closes this episode with an appeal to God to remember his righteous deeds, something he will do several more times in this book (v19).

Blame the Bankers

From ancient times there has been a tendency to blame the bankers for all the financial woes of a culture. The Romans and Greeks despised the bankers. Plato, Aristotle, and Cato did as well. Well into the Medieval period this total ban on usury persisted. Envy of the wealth of the bankers was persistently behind this. In our own day this pagan habit of blaming the bankers has reared its head, and, because Jews have found themselves quite successful in banking, this resentment has been particularly spiteful towards the Jews. Wicked wealthy men have a bad habit of exploiting the poor, and the poor have a bad habit of getting themselves up to their ears in debt and this leads to seething bitterness.

However, Calvin came along and argued, quite effectively, that this resentment towards bankers and the accompanying kibosh on charging interest had been fundamentally misread and misapplied. The problem, as Calvin shows, is not usury itself. The Israelites were to be the sort of productive workers that they would obtain the capital to lend to the nations (Deu. 15:6, 28:12 &44). Think of usury as a chainsaw. It’s a useful tool when used for its proper function, but is horror movie fodder when misused. That is what Calvin argues.

Look closely at Moses’ original injunction regarding usury: If thou lend money to [any of] my people [that is] poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury (Ex. 22:25). The restriction is not on charging interest on a loan. There is a qualifier with two parts to it 1) any of my people that is poor and is 2) by thee. You could not charge usury of a member of the covenant community who was poor, and more specifically who was “by thee”. What could that qualification mean? Look at the verses which immediately follow, which prohibit keeping a worker’s garment (salma). This was often their only garment which would be cast off during work in the hot sun, but would be needed for warmth when night fell. So this is referring to your hired hands. You were to lend generously and without exploitative terms to your people. This doesn’t lay the obligation on us to lend to any Christian brother who asks, for there would be no limitation, and we, being finite, would quickly be bankrupt. The situation Moses is addressing is quite different from the total ban on charging interest that the pagan philosophers and even the church for a time taught.

Consume or Produce

If you lend to a brother in poverty for his daily bread, exacting interest on something he will consume you are asking him to do what only God can do: make something out of nothing. Consider a simple example: if you lend a poor brother 10 handfuls of corn for him to feed his family that night, but demand that he return the next day with 11 handfuls of corn will he be able to? No! But this is different from lending a modest amount to a poor brother who is trying to get a promising business started. Say you lend $10,000 in order for him to buy some lawn equipment to start a landscaping business that promises to bring in $100,000 profit per year. It would be reasonable to negotiate for you to share in some of that profit because your poor brother has not consumed but produced. But you need to be ready to forgive the debt and the interest if things go badly. The poor brother ought to be eager to repay. Also, it’s noteworthy that even that debt could only have 6-year terms.

Further, there’s another temptation that is lying in the weeds here. It is easy to loan to your rich friends who can easily and quickly repay (Lk. 6:34-35); God is summoning His people to a more radical generosity, and to commend them to not overlook the poor brother. The goal for God’s people is fruitfulness. This cannot be done through foolish financial dealings (the guilt of the poor), but neither can it be brought about by this biting interest and exploitation (the guilt of the rich). As Solomon pointed out: There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty (Pro. 11:24).

True Paternity

Paul said, to owe no man anything, but to love one another (Rom. 13:8). As Nehemiah was laboring to restore the walls this grievous selfishness and foolishness appeared and showed that external progress must never be done to the neglect of true love and obedience. We must remember that the walls of the Kingdom of God are made of stones that are people.

There is a poignant lesson here regarding godly leadership. These men who were exploiting their brethren were in positions of authority, power, and prestige. They used that power to exploit, discourage, and bring repudiation upon the whole community. This is a warning for those of you who find yourself in power over others. Kings, husbands, fathers, parents, business owners, older brothers, pastors, and team captains need to get this sort of sacrificial generosity into their bones, and mortify the temptation to exploitation of those in your care. This is worlds apart from the Marxist approach to power dynamics which wants to strip the powerful of their power and redistribute their wealth. Biblical power and authority is not to be stripped away but is to be wielded for the good of those under your power. Kingly largess is to be the defining feature of biblical authority. You want to be powerful? Then be generous.

This gets quite practical when we consider household government. For instance, husbands can be generous with everyone but their wife, and then complain that she is cold and distant. He is stingy towards her because he doesn’t trust her to use the household finances competently. He withholds financial means from her, and then is surprised when she responds with being prickly. Parents can devote their attention to all sorts of “very important things”. Then they lose their cool when the toddler is acting out wanting the attention they’ve not been afforded. When you have wealth in your hand, you can very easily be tempted to suspect that if you give that wealth to others they are only going to squander it. But what if, in loving generosity, you gave generously to those “by thee”. Outdo one another in love. According to your own means, give generously to those under your care and command, and if there are deficiencies in their habits correct them in love, not with stinginess. Being stingy with your money, time, or attention and expecting love and respect in return is like trying to hold onto a fistful of beach sand by gripping tightly.

The Father’s Generosity

Your Heavenly Father sent His Son to die like a seed in the ground in order to bear a harvest of saints. You didn’t deserve that charity. But this is how the love of God was manifested unto us. God gave.

Charge and Benediction

Find a way this week to give generously to someone under your care. Splurge on them. Just because.

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. Amen.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

MORE SERMONS FROM THIS SERIES

Called by Name

by Ben Zornes · Apr 6, 2026

It isn’t throwaway ceremonialism when the minister asks for the Christian name of the child being baptized. Naming and baptizing go together. To be baptized is to receive and then bear Christ’s name. Not only do you receive your older brother’s name, He also shares His inheritance of everlasting life with you. In solemnizing the naming our children here in their baptism we not only confess that this child is to be called by the name their parents chose for them, but also that name is now inextricably associated with Christ’s name.

Names are funny things, though, aren’t they? Your child is born not knowing their name, but by little and little they begin to understand that name is theirs. As Leithart observed: “We name our children so that they respond to that name.” Baptism sets Christ’s name upon them. Christian discipleship calls their new name out to them. We call through the Word preached, through catechism lessons, through teaching them to say their prayers, through singing the Psalms, and through a meal of bread and wine. By these means, we call out to them their new name that they might respond in true faith to the name of Christ which they bear.

So welcome our sister to Jesus Christ…

Easter 2026 | The Jailbreak of Sheol

by Ben Zornes · Apr 6, 2026

Introduction

If you’ve ever travelled to a foreign country you know how disorienting an experience it can be to get around. The signs mean nothing to you. The currency looks funny. You’re aware that your probably an easy target for pickpockets. You probably feel quite anxious. But if you have a friend who is a local, and who knows his way around that city, your fears all melt away.

The Text

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
Ephesians 4:8-10

Descended into Hades

We confess that Jesus descended into Hades/Hell, and so we should make sure we know what we mean when we say that, so that we do not fall into mere vain repetitions. When we consider this doctrine we find that this is a doctrinal area that has suffered from two afflictions. It is either too often overlooked, or looked at with a creepy stare. We do not want to ignore it, nor do we want to fixate upon it. There are several texts which undergird the line in the Apostles Creed that we are considering. This statement by Paul serves as one of the clearest.

Paul, remarking on the ascension of Christ as foretold by the Psalmist (Cf. Ps. 68:18), notes that Christ’s ascension necessitates a descent. Some interpret this descent to the lower parts of the earth as either the incarnation or Pentecost. But if we look closely, Paul is relying heavily on language from the Psalms to support his argument about the ascension being the means whereby Christ has blessed the church with the empowering grace of the Holy Spirit. But Paul borrows more language from the Psalms to describe the descent of Christ. There are two passages in particular where Paul draws his language of descent from:

But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth (Ps. 63:9).

If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there (Ps. 139:8). The LXX: if I descend to Hades.

These texts, along with a few other relevant passages (Cf. Num. 16:30-33, Isa. 14:15), clearly refer to a descent into the the “realms of the dead.” It would be a stretch to apply them to anything else. Paul is saying that since the church has been furnished with the various gifts for the edifying of the body, this must mean that Christ has ascended on high leading captivity captive, and this could only be the case if He had first died and descended into the realms of the dead.

Some Cosmic Furniture

This doctrine challenges the materialistic view of the cosmos. But Scripture thoroughly teaches that there is the natural realm and the supernatural realm. How they interact with one another is a great mystery. Think of the various visions of the supernatural realm in Scripture as if a handyman comes in to do some remodeling in your house, and when he removes the drywall you can see all the wiring, plumbing, ventilation, and insulation that operated unseen by you. The prophets describe marvelous things using metaphor: it was like a wheel within a wheel covered with eyes and it had wings. So then, it is important for us to think biblically first of all, and then learn to make sense of the world in light of the teaching of Scripture. So, let’s consider some of the cosmic furniture.

The Heavens
1. First Heaven – What we would call the atmosphere. Think of the passages where it says that God has shut up or opened the heavens, referring to rain/snow or what we call “the weather.
2. Second Heaven – What we call, quite blandly, outer space. This is where the sun, moon, and stars dance in their well-ordered steps, with their voice going out into all the earth declaring the glory of God (Cf. Ps. 19).
3. Third Heaven – Where God dwells.
The Earth
Under the Earth
1. The Grave – Where the body went.
2. Sheol/Hades: Chambers in the earth where the souls of the dead, and fallen angels were held.
  1. Paradise/Abraham’s Bosom – The abode of the souls of departed righteous, who had been “gathered to their fathers.”
  2. Hades, Hell – Where the souls of unbelievers go when they die. The Old Norse word Hel was simply the best word in English for referring to this chamber of the realm of the dead.
  3. Tartarus – Where the imprisoned fallen angels dwell.
  4. Lake of Fire (Gehenna) – The place of final judgement; death and Hades will be cast into it at the final judgement.

A Robust Creed

With all this in mind, the Apostles’ Creed is a robust explanation of our Christian faith, and we run the risk of removing ancient landmarks by minimizing or redefining any of its clauses. Within the Reformed tradition, following Calvin nonetheless, there has been a tendency to define this clause we are considering as only being a description of Christ’s sufferings upon the cross. There are two forceful arguments which have been made against this view.

First, it would introduce redundancy within the creed. Second, it interrupts the chronology of the creed. When Jesus cried, “It is finished!” the sacrifice for our sin really was completed. Nothing more was to be done. He gave up His life, dying in our stead, so that the wages of our sin might be fully paid. But we must not forget that He had taught that the only sign He would give the evil and adulterous generation He had come to was the sign of Jonah (Cf. Mt. 12:39, 16:4, Lk. 11:29-30). Descending into Sheol (Jon. 2), and arising alive again was the sign that the New Creation had come, like a seed dying in order to sprout forth with new life (Jn. 12:24).

Jesus truly died. His body lay stiff and cold in a tomb hewn out of stone. Meanwhile, His human soul went down into the lower parts of the earth, into Paradise. He promised the believing thief on the cross that he would join Him there (Lk. 23:43). While there, Jesus proclaimed, across the chasm, His victory to the damned souls and fallen angels there in Tartarus (1 Pt. 3:19). Jesus went all the way down into death. On Easter morning His human soul was reunited with His human body, and the first fruit of God’s resurrecting power emerged triumphant from the grave. He brought all the righteous souls with Him, leading these captives out of the captivity of Sheol (Mt. 27:51-53). Paradise has been transferred into the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2).

Following Our Exalted Head

Now what does all this mean? First, it means that the whole cosmos has been rearranged by the new creation which Christ’s death, burial, descent, and resurrection brought about. As the hymn says, “the keys of death and hell are to our Jesus giv’n.” But while Easter is glorious for this cosmic rearrangement, it is also gloriously personal.

Jesus told us that He could lay down His life, but He could also take it up again. He did this for you. You must face death, but you need not fear to drink that bitter cup. You must one day travel that unknown path of death. But the resurrection of Jesus testifies to you that death is not the final chapter. Your death need not be your final state. How can this be? Because Jesus went into death ahead of you, you need not be afraid of that journey. This truly is a great gift of deliverance from the sorrows of the grave. By faith you too might be assured that to die is to be absent from the body (for now) but to be present with the Lord (Phi 1:23, 2 Co 5:8).

I sing my Savior’s wondrous death,
He conquered when he fell:
“‘Tis finished!” said his dying breath,
And shook the gates of hell.
“‘Tis finished!” our Immanuel cries,
The dreadful work is done;
Hence shall his sovereign throne arise,
His kingdom is begun.
His cross a sure foundation laid
For glory and renown,
When through the regions of the dead
He passed to reach the crown.

Charge and Benediction

Easter is the beginning of the new creation. In that new creation, death itself is swallowed up in the victory of Christ. Though you will one day taste death, you won’t taste it alone. For Christ has gone before you and taken away all its bitterness so that nothing is left to you but the sweetness of His everlasting and abundant life.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
2 Corinthians 13:14