Jim:

Nehemiah 9:1-25
In the midst of Ezra’s wonderful retelling of the history of God’s people (vv. 6-25) comes these comforting words: “But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” (v. 17c) These or very similar words are used often during worship to assure us of God’s forgiveness. Indeed, the history that Ezra relates is one of God’s ongoing forgiveness of the people, for their many transgressions.

Revelation 18:1-8
Because of its message of forgiveness the Nehemiah passage is a good one to hold next to the words from Revelation. In condemning “Babylon”, the writer of Revelation writes, “Come out of her, my people, so that you do not take part in her sins, and so that you do not share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” (v. 4b-5) When I read about sins “heaped high as heaven” I thought of the Tower of Babel, a sinful effort by the nations to make a name for themselves, in other words to reach to the heavens and challenge the sovereignty of God. Our sins do have a tendency to pile up, and most often they are the result of us having placed something between ourselves and God, no matter what it is. In the Reformed tradition, of which the Presbyterian Church (USA) is a part, we recognize the sin of idolatry—this allowing of anything to diminish our devotion to God––as one of the most significant causes of human iniquity. And like Revelation suggests, we needn’t pile up literal stones to form our towers or idols. When we allow our sinful acts to accumulate, we challenge the sovereignty of God all the same. And yet, as we read in Nehemiah, God is "abounding in steadfast love." Thanks be to God.