“Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee” (Nehemiah 9:6).

These are the opening affirmations of the prayer of the Levites after the return of the Jews from captivity in Babylon and the completion of the walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah’s leadership. This prayer followed immediately after a great revival of Bible reading led by Ezra, the priestly scribe (Nehemiah 8:1–18; 9:1–3).

The natural outcome of such a return to the word of God by all the nation was this great national affirmation that Jehovah was the true Creator of all the universe. He had created all things in Heaven and in Earth even the stars!

Such an acknowledgment was especially significant for a people who had just emerged from more than 150 years of captivity in Babylon—the very center and archetype of the polytheistic evolutionism of the ancient world. Furthermore, the Jews had been sent into captivity in the first place, because they had fallen into the same sin as the Babylonians—that of blasphemously worshipping the “host of Heaven.”

But now God’s people had recognized and acknowledged once again that this very host of Heaven had been created by God, and that the faithful host of Heaven (the unfallen angels) still worshipped this same Creator God who had now brought His people back to their promised land. If mighty angels worship their Creator, how can we do less?

Herein is an important lesson for our own nation today. A true national revival must begin with a great renewal of sincere Bible study, with a foundational emphasis on the basic fact of special creation, recognizing that control of all things must be by the true God of the universe. HMM