Paid Back With Interest

And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren. For there were those who said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live.” There were also some who said, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.” There were also those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.” And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, “Each of you is exacting usury from his brother.” So I called a great assembly against them. And I said to them, “According to our ability we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us?” Then they were silenced and found nothing to say. Then I said, “What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? I also, with my brethren and my servants, am lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury! Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them.” So they said, “We will restore it, and will require nothing from them; we will do as you say.” Then I called the priests, and required an oath from them that they would do according to this promise. Then I shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out each man from his house, and from his property, who does not perform this promise. Even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord. Then the people did according to this promise. Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ate the governor’s provisions. But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people, and took from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, but I did not do so, because of the fear of God. Indeed, I also continued the work on this wall, and we did not buy any land. All my servants were gathered there for the work.Nehemiah 5:1-16 (NKJV)

Nehemiah 5 is a prophetic picture that applies to our times. I know this passage is a bit lengthy, but I encourage you to read it thoroughly and meditate on it. It deals with people being taken advantage of. They were paying taxes and had lost their homes, lands, and families. They were in debt and were being charged usury, or interest, causing them to sell family members into slavery.

The leaders had been abusing their authority and were misusing the people of God. They had to sell their property and children just to stay alive. The rulers were overtaxing the people, thus stealing from them. Nehemiah rebuked these leaders for being mean, greedy, and insensitive to the needs of the people. God is against those who take advantage of people’s poor stations in life. Nehemiah was a leader who feared God. He told the leaders to restore what they had taken and to pay it back with interest.

Most of us have been taken advantage of by wicked leaders lording over us in this ungodly world system. God is saying He is going to shake things, and whatever is not of Him will not remain. We are going to get paid back with interest for everything that has been stolen from us. God will pay us back.

We’re going to be paid back in:

• Our families

• Our finances

• Our homes

• Our government

• Our health

Everything that we’ve paid, such as taxes, is being removed from the hands of the wicked and being returned to the righteous. A grate wealth transfer has been propshesied for years, and now it is coming to pass.

This chapter in Nehemiah is biblical proof that God believes in paying people back who have been taken advatage of and ripped off. What God did then, He is doing in our day. Those who believe will receive. Have faith in God’s restoration, because those who doubt will lose out.

God is paying us back more than we lost. it will be better than before, with more than before, We will even be paid retroactively for past years and past generations before us who have been stolen from.

“Rejoice! There are better years ahead. Wait patiently for it for it shall surely come to pass,” saith the Lord.