It really boggles my mind when I hear pastors talking about how a border wall is “immoral”.
Do these guys (and gals) not know their Bible?
I don’t get it.
The Bible is FULL of references to walls, and many of those walls are built up around Israel to protect it!
In fact, over 245 refrences to walls in the Bible by one count!
And there’s a whole Book of the Bible dedicated to a wall-builder named Nehemiah, who famously rebuilt Israel’s walls!
Did you know?
The Book of Nehemiah makes clear that Nehemiah believes he is called by God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
And he believes that once he does so, they will be blessed and protected.
How interesting!
I would urge everyone to read the entire book of Nehemiah from the Bible, it's not very long.
But here's just one key portion, from BibleGateway, this is from Nehemiah 2:
Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem’s Walls
11 I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days 12 I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on.
13 By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal[a] Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. 14 Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; 15 so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. 16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work.
17 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” 18 I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.
They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. “What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?”
20 I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”
You really can't miss it when you read the passages.
First he makes clear that God laid this plan on his heart.
So...SORRY Nancy, SORRY Chuck, God himself, the Sovereign one of Israel, the Lion of Judah, has laid it on hearts of men to build walls -- physical walls -- for protection.
He laid it on Nehemiah's heart and I believe he has laid it on Donald J. Trump's heart.
And if the LORD gives the plan, that means it is not immoral.
Sorry, try again!
Now let's jump to Chapter 4, and tell me if this doesn't sound familiar:
Opposition to the Rebuilding
4 [a]When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, 2 and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?”
3 Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!”
4 Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. 5 Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of[b] the builders.
6 So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.
7 But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. 8 They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. 9 But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.
10 Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”
11 Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.”
12 Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”
13 Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows.14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
15 When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.
16 From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah 17 who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, 18 and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me.
19 Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. 20 Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!”
21 So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. 22 At that time I also said to the people, “Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and as workers by day.” 23 Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water.[c]
Isn't this fascinating?
Do those bolded parts remind you of everyone?
Does the mockery sound familiar? "Even a fox would climb up on it and knock it over."
You konw what that sounds like to me?
It sounds like the people thinking they're so clever who say: "Oh you're building a wall? Guess you've never heard of ladders."
Yeah, real funny.
But let me tell you a little secret....
The mockers in the Nehemiah did not prevail, and neither will the mockers of our day.
The wall WILL be built and it will bring SAFETY and SECURITY!
Build the wall and crime will fall!
And from Chapter 6, does this sound familiar?
Opposition to the Completed Wall
16 When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.
17 Also, in those days the nobles of Judah were sending many letters to Tobiah, and replies from Tobiah kept coming to them. 18 For many in Judah were under oath to him, since he was son-in-law to Shekaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah. 19 Moreover, they kept reporting to me his good deeds and then telling him what I said. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.
I told you before, the idea for the wall came from the LORD!
And it was completed with his help!
Will it be the same for America?
It's so funny that just like in the Bible, all the enemies feared the wall and tried to stop it from being constructed.
I find it hilarious when other countries try to tell us we can't have a wall, or Mexico says they oppose the wall.
Of course they do!
But just like in Nehemiah, it doesn't really matter because the wall will be finished with the help of our God!
Here's the last part I want to quote, from Nehemiah Chapter 13:
Nehemiah’s Final Reforms
13 On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God, 2 because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam to call a curse down on them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.) 3 When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent.
4 Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah, 5 and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.
Isn't that interesting!
Once Nehemiah had finished the wall and secured the city, he then set about with REFORMS!
Want to know another word for "reforms"?
And this comes from the ancient Hebrew, only a select group of scholars know this.....
You ready?
REFORMS is another way of saying DRAIN THE SWAMP!
My friends, people want to say Donald Trump is a Cyrus character? I think he is in one sense.
Other people want to say he's like David. I think that is also a great comparison.
But here's another: Donald Trump is most definitely a Nehemiah-like character!
As the CanadiaFreePress once wrote:
When Nancy Pelosi says that it is immoral to build a wall, she proves she knows nothing of morality or, for that matter, God, but has spent too much of her time and energy on politics and the acquisition of power. The Book of Nehemiah shows that God protects His people. Whose people are we?
And here's more, from a great post from JesusAlive:
You might be surprised to learn that the Bible is FILLED with verses speaking of walls. The words "wall/walls" are used 245 times in the Bible. Many of these are speaking of walls somewhat like a "border wall." Walls were nearly always built around cities in the Bible. Many were HUGE (Deut 3:5)! It is said that the wall surrounding Babylon was 387' high and 87' thick! The Hebrew word "chowmah" is most often used for "wall" in the Old Testament, and Strong's defines it as "a wall of protection." This was the primary use for walls; for protection from those who lived outside the city (as well as from wild animals). They kept unauthorized people from entering the city, and also protected the people of the city from attack.
This sounds very similar to why President Trump and many others want to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, doesn't it? But, the question remains, did God approve of doing this? It seems clear that He did. The clearest example that most use is found in the book of Nehemiah. In Chapter 1, Nehemiah received word that "The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down and its gates are burned with fire." Upon hearing this, Nehemiah fasted and prayed to God. Shortly afterwards, Nehemiah made a request to the king to return to to Jerusalem and rebuild what had been destroyed, and the king granted his request. After Nehemiah arrived and surveyed the damage by night, (Neh 2:17-18) records him saying to the people:
"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. (18) Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work."
Nehemiah clearly believes that God is behind this work to rebuild the wall. He says as much in (Neh 2:20) saying, "The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build..." Chapters 3-6 record the building of the wall, concluding with (Neh 6:15-16) saying, "So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days. (16) And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God."
God was behind this work to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. However, as you read these chapters in Nehemiah, you will also see that they faced opposition from many people who did not want a wall to be built (rebuilt). In particular, two men named Sanballat and Tobiah were leading the charge to stop it. Some compare this opposition to the opposition we see today in building a wall in the U.S.. Whether this parallel is legitimate or not, it is worth noting.
This example in Nehemiah is not the only example of God ordained wall building in the Bible. "Good" kings Solomon (1 Kin 3:1)(1 Kin 9:15) and Asa (2 Chr 14:7) also built walls to surround cities. God instructed that His Tabernacle be surrounded by a 7 and a half foot high white linen fence (see Ex 27:9-19). God's Temple had a wall around it.
In end times, we see that the New Jerusalem will have a wall around it with 12 gates (one for each of the 12 tribes). In describing the New Jerusalem in (Rev 21:9-27), (Rev 21:12) says, "And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel..." And, notice what (Rev 21:27) says about who cannot pass through the gates in the wall, "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." In simpler terms, the wall is a separation between those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior from those who have not!
(Rev 22:14-15) reaffirms this, saying, "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. (15) For without (outside the walls) are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie."
(*** Note: Most consider this "wall" around New Jerusalem to be figurative rather than literal.)
The Bible also speaks of God being a "wall" or "hedge" of protection surrounding those who belong to Him (Job 1:10)(Zech 2:5)(Ps 34:7)(Ps 5:12)(Hos 2:6-7).
Friends, the Bible pretty clearly affirms that God/Jesus is not opposed to building walls for protection. The primary opposition to building a wall or walls, particularly within the U.S. is that it is not the "loving thing to do." We must "build bridges" to those from other countries, helping them, sheltering them, providing them with them medical care, and more... Yes, the Bible does command us to do this, but the Bible also shows us that we have the God-given right to protect our nation from evil. We can protect our nation from evil, AND help those from other countries, but there is a process for this to happen, and it should be followed. Those immigrating should follow the laws of the land they are entering, and not break the law. God commands all people to obey and submit to ruling authorities (verses here: here).
P.S. It is interesting to note that the Pope lives behind huge walls in the Vatican, which were built by previous Popes centuries earlier for protection. In addition, nearly all of those in Hollywood who are leading the charge against building a wall, go home to houses surrounded by walls or gates to keep out people who might cause them harm.
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