W.W.N.D.? Nehemiah and Immigration Reform

This post was originally posted in November of 2013, months before some children and many older individuals have been illegally flooding into America with no documentation, highly-communicable diseases, and many with ties to the violent gangs  they claim they are "escaping" from. 

The web of illegal activity that has led to the current crisis is not addressed here.  Biblical immigration is.  One most first begin from a point of understanding that God does NOT leave his people without direction for any sphere of life.  His plan for what we call "immigration" is no exception.
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So much of our current discussion about immigration mistakenly makes the focus racism, materialism and selfishness. Anyone against amnesty must be a bigot, heartless, and clearly not one who loves his neighbor as himself. Any chance at real dialogue is squelched and our nation and the people she purports to serve are weakened. Immigration reform needs to happen, but even Christians are divided as to how, what and why. We have been given a great resource of wisdom to address modern day immigration through Scripture. Let’s practice due diligence and see what God has to say.

Take a look at walls for a moment. Walls were meant to give peace and security to the people of God inside. (Ps. 122:7) When walls were torn down, the nation was ravaged by man and beast.(Ps. 80:12) Armed with swords, spears and bows, guards stood watch and protected the city during the wall’s rebuilding and after(Nehemiah4-7). Walls and gates are to be guarded by diligent and faithful watchmen and gatekeepers. (1 Chronicles 9:22-27; 2Kings 9:17) Before anyone is allowed entrance through the gate, there is testing that takes place: is this person a friend or foe? Where are their allegiances? Are they an alien or foreigner? Are they coming to speak the “language of Judah” and assimilate or to replace or overthrow? (Nehemiah 13:23-25)

Let’s take a look at God’s instructions for his people in how they relate to other people groups. God says in his word for the Israelites to not have anything to do with certain groups, including Moabites. Yet he welcomes Ruth, a Moabite, to be in the blood line of Christ, himself! How can this be? God shows us that while there are cultural beliefs and practices that are incompatible with him, there are individuals from those same cultures who want to make “him their God and his people, their people”.(Ruth 1:16) To know who these individuals are requires much time and effort, but I believe God calls us to responsibly perform this task. To allow a near blanket acceptance of anyone within the walls is not only unbiblical, it is dangerous, naïve, foolish, lazy and threatens our nation as a whole leaving us weak so that we then become a sanctuary for no one- absolutely no one. I’d like to ask anyone who believes in an easy entrance into our borders, do you lock your doors at night or when you are not home? If so, consider the inconsistency in your views and the way you practice them.

Nehemiah wept over the state of the broken wall and burned gates of Jerusalem and what it meant about the condition of God’s people. The people set apart by God, for God had disobeyed God and were experiencing the consequences and yes, punishment for their sins. (Jeremiah 44:13)

We, too, were set apart for God, by God and have left our first love as well. The LORD has, in part, removed his hand of protection. But now we find ourselves at a place where we can turn from our wicked ways and obey him. It is time to rebuild the wall of peace and security around our nation’s borders, then responsibly apply biblical wisdom to offer freedom and safety to those aliens who seek the same.

For more information on biblical immigration, please visit Evangelicals For Biblical Immigration .