But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. [Ephesians 2:13-17 ESV]
I know some good, Godly people who believe in Donald Trump's wall. They believe it will save us from drugs, from bad people, from evil pouring over the southern border. I disagree. While I believe that border security is important, it's interesting that most of the criminals that come through and the contraband that slips over comes through ports of entry, not the wide-open desert. Surely we can take those billions that would be spent on a pointless wall (have they not heard of ladders and tunnels and airplanes?) and figure out ways to stop the problems where they really exist?
But more than anything, I believe that Christians need to be thinking about this question (and every question) theologically...what does the gospel say about this? Some point to the walls being built up in the new Jerusalem (cf. Rev. 21:9-27) and say that, see, even heaven has walls. Yet a. I'm not so sure that this is heaven...I have come to believe that this is more likely a description of the kingdom of God within the church and b. The gates of that city are never shut, but the nations will continually enter and bring glory and honor (21:25-26).
We would do so much better to think about this question from the perspective of seeing the nations come as an opportunity to give glory to God. Somebody who comes to America illegally will likely not stay forever...are we looking at them as potentially great evangelists for Jesus Christ? How will they know unless they have heard? It is great to think we can go there and teach, but if they come here, should we not look at this as an opportunity to teach as well?
The gospel is about tearing down walls that Satan has built up. We do ourselves no good when we think that building walls on earth is a good idea.
