And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. (Isaiah 58:12)
And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. (Isaiah 61:4)
And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers 'sepulchres, that I may build it. (Nehemiah 2:5)
Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. (Nehemiah 2:17)
Isaiah 61 is about Jehovah making his people holy and blameless one day. The references in Nehemiah are about rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem after a period of exile. One might make an analogy that God's purification of his people will be like the restoration of the wall, it will be one of the closing events of Earth's history because Jesus comes to claim us. Isaiah 61 speaks of the desolations of many generations. How can one generation heal that? By succeeding where they have failed, in reaching the world with the gospel, not only verbally but lived out in their lives.
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