Rebuilding the walls - 17 December 2009 |
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Last Sunday our children’s Sunday School started looking at the book of Nehemiah. Here are some thoughts on the big picture. (The long words won’t make it into the teaching material for the kids.)
The book of Nehemiah is all about rebuilding the wall and gates of Jerusalem, so we must understand their significance in order to grasp the message of the book.
The walls of a city are a means of security and defence, and thus a comfort for its citizens and a measure of its stature as a city. It’s handy to have high walls because you can drop millstones from them onto people’s heads (Judges 9:52), while if the walls are broken down, the city is finished (Josh 6). Walls define the geo-political ‘space’ occupied by the city, and thus serve as the boundaries of the city’s civic activity, governance, and so on.
The gates in particular serve this civic function – lots of civic affairs take place there (e.g. Dt 17:5; 21:19; 25:7; Ruth 4; Amos 5:10; Ps 127:5). The gates are also the place where public announcements are made (since it’s the main thoroughfare) and the place where God’s people encounter the pagan world. So if you wanted to proclaim the gospel to the nations, where would you stand?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the walls and gates of the City of God are ‘salvation’ and ‘praise’ (Is 60:18), and the LORD himself is identified with the walls of his city (Ps 48:12-14). After all, what else would God’s people announce to the world other than the gospel of their King, and who else would be their protection?
In summary, the walls and gates of the people of God say two things to the world:
1. Walls mean KEEP OUT! The Israelites built the walls to keep the nations out so that they could follow the Lord. So also the church needs to be separate from the unbelieving world so that we can follow Jesus.
2. Gates mean COME IN! The Israelites built the gates to welcome the nations in so that they could also follow the Lord. So also the church needs to welcome people in so that they can also follow Jesus.
Or, to put it another way, we’re separate from the world for the sake of the world. We leave the world in order to save the world. And so on.
For more, see ‘Wall’ and ‘Gate’ in the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (IVP).
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Bible, Minister's Blog