“And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem.” (Nehemiah 11:2, NKJV)

Anything worthwhile is worth the sacrifice. Jerusalem was a beautiful city that was being restored. But a city without inhabitants is dead. A city without people to care for it is destined to fall. The walls were completed, but Nehemiah knew that the houses within needed to be rebuilt, and people needed to live in them. But the people naturally gravitated to the land of their inheritance outside the city. It took a special breed of people who were willing to sacrifice personal comforts for the good of Jerusalem to maintain the spiritual, political and cultural epicenter of the nation. In this chapter we see that they cast lots to see who would dwell in Jerusalem. This was sort of like a draft. One out of ten citizens of Judah would live in Jerusalem; the rest would live in other cities where they could work their farms. But in addition to these there were certain men who volunteered, and the people blessed them for their sacrifice.

Today we have a different city in which to dwell. It is a city with foundations, whose builder and architect is God (Hebrews 11:10). For now, it is a spiritual rather than a physical city. But it is a holy city, and the spiritual epicenter of the world. It is the kingdom of God with the temple of God, which are the people of God (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; Ephesians 2:21-22). And the Holy Spirit is looking for volunteers to dwell there. It means sacrificing the comforts of this world to be consecrated to the service of God. God may call people to live there, but I am unaware of any “draft”. Rather, the Lord blesses all who choose to willingly offer themselves.

God is calling us out of this world to a deeper consecration to Christ. Are you willing to dwell in the spiritual Jerusalem?